WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign sought to
paint Mitt Romney, his likely challenger in this year’s presidential race, as shallow, ill-informed and dangerous when it
comes to foreign policy.
AP
Vice President Joe Biden delivered the harsh attack Thursday on Romney’s
foreign policy views in a campaign speech delivered at New York University Law School. He also laid out a robust defense of
Obama’s foreign policy record while eviscerating Romney for lacking vision and for “distorting” Obama’s record in a way
that has been counterproductive to U.S. interests.
“If you’re looking for a bumper sticker to sum up
how President Obama has handled what we inherited, it’s pretty simple: Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive,”
Biden said, referring to the government bailout of American automakers early in Obama’s presidency.
Biden cast the
former Massachusetts governor as an inexperienced foreign policy thinker who would delegate decisions to staff and advisers.
He also hit Romney on his reputation for flip-flopping on issues.
“We know when the governor does venture a position
it’s a safe bet that he previously took or will take an exactly opposite position,” Biden said, noting that Romney had
originally supported setting a time frame for pulling U.S. troops from Afghanistan only to later criticize Obama’s plan to
do so by the end of 2014.
Biden repeatedly used Romney’s own words against him, such as when Romney downplayed the
significance of capturing Osama bin Laden during Romney’s 2008 presidential bid and, more recently, when Romney said Russia
was the United States’ gravest geopolitical foe.
Biden said Obama will gladly stack accomplishments such as killing
terror mastermind Osama bin Laden against Romney’s rhetoric. Romney advisers held a conference call before Biden spoke, with
John Lehman, Navy secretary during the Reagan administration, accusing Obama of “a gross abdication of leadership” that could
have practical and political consequences.
Until now, neither Romney nor Obama had made foreign policy a major issue
in the campaign. The Obama campaign also announced the president’s first official re-election rallies next week where he
will be joined by his wife, the popular Michelle Obama.
The campaign revved up two days after Romney’s sweep of five
Republican presidential primaries that virtually assured he would be the party’s nominee. Those victories forced Newt
Gingrich, former speaker of the House of Representatives, to finally acknowledge his campaign was no longer viable. Romney’s
most significant opponent, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, left the contest two weeks ago. Only Texas Rep. Ron Paul,
a libertarian with a small but loyal following, is maintaining a token campaign.
Obama plans to use his return to
campaigning to draw a contrast between his economic approach and what the campaign says is the Republican Party’s desire to
return to the policies that crashed the economy.
The economy is by far the biggest issue in this election. Obama has
spent the past two days courting young voters who were solidly behind him in the 2008 election. In 2008, he had a 34-point
advantage over Republican challenger John McCain among voters under age 30. New polling suggests the president may face a
harder sales job with younger voters this time.
Romney, meanwhile, moved aggressively to raise money for the battle
against Obama and draw the support of conservatives within the Republican Party who continue to be skeptical of his
positions.