Romney's pitch: Obama is a 'European' leader

Posted By Joshua Keating Thursday, June 2, 2011 - 1:40 PM Share

There was not much about foreign policy in Mitt Romney's official announcement of his candidacy today. He suggested that the president has been "hesitant" about supporting the Middle East's revolutions and picked up on the "leading from behind" theme. (You have to wonder if whatever White House staffer suggested "leading from behind" to the New Yorker's Ryan Lizza realized they were scripting every GOP candidate's first ad.) He also mentioned that the president had "traveled around the world to apologize for America" and had a zinger about the proposed U.S. withdrawal date from Afghanistan: "The Taliban may not have watches, but they have calendars."

Oddly, the region that got the most play in the short section on foreign affairs was not the Middle East, Central Asia, or China, but Europe. To his credit, Romney has avoided throwing in his lot with members of his party who have openly questioned President Obama's citizenship or religion, but the former Massachusetts governor did repeatedly suggest that there's a certain Continental flavor to the president's leadership style.

He suggested that the president takes his cues and values not from the small towns of America, but from the "capitals of Europe." He said that Obama was proposing "European answers to American problems" and was treating Israel the way European countries do, with "suspicion and distrust."

At our recent Shadow Government event here at FP, the panelists suggested that a major challenge for the GOP field would be to make the case that Obama has made the country weaker and accepted the narrative of "American decline," without pandering to extremists who see him as not only un-American but anti-American.

Romney's solution seems to be the label of "European," which, for the American electorate, carries the twin connotations of timidity in foreign affairs and socialist economic policies. (Though the stereotype also feels a little dated given that Western Europe's major powers are, for the most part, currently ruled by conservative governments whose passion for austerity budgets is tempered only by their enthusiasm for bombing North Africa.)

The European attack may be a good way to play to the Republican base in the primary, but I wonder about it as a long-term strategy. American voters may feel threatened by terrorists from the Middle East, insurgents from Central Asia, illegal immigrants from Mexico, and workers from China. I'm not sure bureaucrats from Brussels pack the same rhetorical punch. We'll see.

J.D. Pooley/Getty Images

 

SCOOP

3:35 PM ET

June 2, 2011

Let us count the ways...

Obama = European

Spending out of control
Cutting defense budgets
High gas prices
Obamacare
Green
Leads from behind
Likes Russia
Dislikes America

 

LAUR

7:43 PM ET

June 2, 2011

spend to save economy that

spend to save economy that Bush ruined...checked
dod bugged record high, needs cuts to save the deficit of tax cuts and two wars and medic.
yes, the president controls the gas price!
yes, fck the poor 40 mil people... they don't deserve care. and dont control costs either.
green is bad in itself, I can only live if i know the electricity that runs my laptop comes from coal, if it's clean is evil. i read in the Bible.
leads from behind?? he should be in front because i need a leader to tell me what to do!
we dont russia, not that we dont have enough wars and conflicts, but even broke USA should keep fighting the empire of evil. we are the good.
it's clear that he doesn't. can't wait for a true American like Palin. she will teach Russia (she's from Alaska QED), she'l protect Israel, defeat Iran, go to Church on Sunday, make the economy grow by double digits, show those laid-back Europeans what a real American is all about.

 

PECHORIN

7:49 PM ET

June 2, 2011

I'll take it

Not Romney, but this strategy. Sure, it still attempts to characterize Obama as a foreigner out of touch with "real America," but at least it doesn't have the nasty racial overtones of the "Kenyan anti-colonialist" slurs.

Scoop: Your caricature of typically European policies is factually incorrect. The Poles would be shocked to learn that they like Russia, Germans would take issue with your accusation about spending, many Britons don't think the Cameron government is truly Green, and the French were definitely not leading from behind on Libya. Why don't you learn some things before making absolute statements about European politics?

 

PASSEPARTOUT

2:42 AM ET

June 3, 2011

A appeal

Romney's appeal to redneck rural Americans xenophobic tendencies is nauseating. Make it mandatory for every American to have a passport, and to use it.

 

SPACEGEEK

2:02 PM ET

June 3, 2011

small time thinking

Mitt Romney has absolute no chance in this election. A very intelligent hard working man he undoubtedly is but unfortunately also has the personality of a shoe horn. His lackluster public support will shine brightly come primaries.
Dont waste your moola mitt!

 

KUNINO

2:40 PM ET

June 3, 2011

Romney's first bullshit claim

In Libya, a number of Europeans are following the US lead to support the rebels against the local tyrant. This seems to Romney to make clear that president Obama is European. No, it shows Europeans trying to be American.

There's no truth either to his claim that the president is hesitant in supporting Middle East revolutions. Both personally and through the department of State he has promptly made clear to Middle East tyrants and rebels alike that America demands full respect for the human rights of those peoples. Promptness is not hesitancy. As to the claim of "leading from behind," this preposterous invention suggests that it's job of the United States to throw itself into greater activity -- sending the military abroad to kill people is what this seems to mean -- supporting any folks who choose to rebel in the Middle East, regardless of the merits of their different cases. Doing that would be morally wrong, and the US can't afford it, financially or morally.

This opening cannonade from Mr Romney suggests that his desire is to be a disastrously warlike and incompetent president. Or else, alas, that he's lying and he knows it. America's current restraint in the Middle East is noble and proper. Hungry for votes, Mr Romney evidently thinks he can't afford to show he knows that.

 

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