Romney to take aim at Obama’s foreign policy
WASHINGTON — Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is pledging to reverse Pentagon cuts made under President Obama, while accusing the president of weakening the military and damaging US standing around the globe.
Romney, who is seeking the GOP nomination in the 2012 presidential election, will make a major foreign policy speech tomorrow morning at The Citadel in South Carolina, an early primary state that is key to winning the GOP nomination.
The campaign released excerpts of the speech, in which Romney pledged to have a muscular foreign policy backed up with a stronger military. The speech will deliver a sharp broadside against President Obama, saying that “eloquently justified surrender of world leadership is still surrender.”
“American strength rises from a strong economy, a strong defense, and the enduring strength of our values. Unfortunately, under this President, all three of those elements have been weakened,” Romney is expected to say.
The speech represents a full-frontal attack on the president, but it also delivers backhanded slaps against fellow Republicans also vying for the nomination. In the speech, Romney says that the nation must not “crawl into an isolationist shell,” in what appears to be a reference to reservations among his fellow candidates to avoid foreign entanglements, whether in Libya or other future hotspots.
In the speech, Romney will also pledge to institute eight policy measures in his first 100 days. Those include a review of the Afghanistan withdrawal and transition plan; increasing the nation’s naval power by increasing shipbuilding; strengthening ties to allies such as Israel; and recommitting to a missile defense system.
The carefully choreographed rollout of Romney’s foreign policy and national security stance represents the most aggressive move yet among the GOP contenders to stake out their position on the US role in the world.
Earlier today, Romney announced details of his foreign policy advisory team, which includes some old allies of Romney but many new ones as well, some of them high-profile members of the George W. Bush’s administration.
The advisory panel of dozens of experts in foreign policy, counter-terrorism, diplomacy and national security is divided into over a dozen working groups, organized by region and issue.
New faces among his advisors include Michael Hayden, who directed the CIA from 2006 until 2009 and led the National Security Agency before that, and Harvard Kennedy School Senior Fellow Paula Dobriansky, a former under secretary of state for democracy and global affairs.
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