The immediate reaction to Mitt Romney’s presidential nomination acceptance speech was generally positive.
Then, near the end, he jumped into foreign policy and good Mitt turned into harsh Mitt, beginning with a stern warning on Iran.
“Every American is less secure today because [President Barack Obama] has failed to slow Iran’s nuclear threat,” Romney said. “In his first TV interview as president, he said we should talk to Iran. We’re still talking, and Iran’s centrifuges are still spinning.”
So does that mean talk with Iran is over?
Not so far-fetched. Romney campaign co-chair and former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, known as a relative moderate, told Foreign Policy magazine this week that he would support Congress authorizing war with Iran.
Other Romney advisers like Dan Senor have openly given Israel a pass to attack.
But As the great Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson said, there is no constituency for war with Iran in the U.S. Still, Romney continued the tough talk. “President Obama has thrown allies like Israel under the bus, even has he as relaxed sanctions on Castro’s Cuba,” Romney continued. “He abandoned our friends in Poland by walking away from our missile defense commitments. But he’s eager to give Russia’s president, Putin, the flexibility he desires after the election. Under my administration, our friends will see more loyalty, and Mr. Putin will see a little less flexibility and more backbone.” Romney, however, never mentioned the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. And not one word about U.S. troops overseas.
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