Politics
Election 2012: Biden hits out at Romney on foreign policy
“Why is the United States under Obama abdicating its leadership for keeping stability in the world?” asked Lehman, Navy secretary in the Reagan administration, during a conference call Romney’s campaign arranged with reporters before Biden spoke. “This is a serious crisis and perhaps could be the central issue in the campaign.”
Lehman continued: “The Obama administration in a very studied and intentional way is withdrawing from leading the free world and maintaining stability around the world — what Obama calls leading from behind. But the reality is it’s opening up huge new vulnerabilities.”
Obama has not described his foreign policy as “leading from behind.” Republicans used the phrase to chastise Obama for his handling of last year’s uprising in Libya.
Biden recited Obama’s foreign policy achievements, noting that he ordered the attack that killed bin Laden and fulfilled a campaign promise to end the Iraq war. Biden said Obama repaired alliances with other nations, particularly with geopolitical partners in Europe and Asia.
He also pushed back particularly hard on Romney’s attacks on the Obama administration’s handling of Iran and Israel, two areas where Republicans have been sharply critical of the president.
On Iran, Biden said Romney’s call for crippling sanctions and a U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon simply mirrored Obama’s approach.
“The only step we could take that we aren’t already taking is to launch a war against Iran. If that’s what Gov. Romney means by a ‘very different policy,’ he should tell the American people,” Biden said.
