After speaking Tuesday in Reno, Mitt Romney will embark on a six-day, full schedule, listening tour to England, Israel, and Poland. The Obama re-election team used the eve of the trip to question what Romney will say and do overseas, since much of his foreign policy rhetoric to date has been that whatever the president has done, he'll do the opposite.
He's literally said that in the case of Israel, the second stop on his itinerary this week.
Obama officials pushed back on the idea that there are strains between the president and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with Colin Kahl, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East telling reporters Monday that by some estimations relations between the two nations have never been greater, which might be a bit of a stretch.
Former press secretary Robert Gibbs said that Romney will need to prove to the American people on this trip if he sees foreign policy issues as "worthy of substantive discussion, and not just for sound bites." He added that he thought Romney was having a tough time arguing against most of Obama on the issues, mostly speaking in platitudes in criticizing him .
Michele Flournoy – the record's bee very clear the prsident has been suscessful in revitalizing alliances, especially in Europe. The US and UK and Cameron have a very close relationship. Fair to say we're in lockstep on every major foreign policy issue. …special relatioshiop with Britain
Big question he needs to answer. All of our NATO allies have agreed to a plan to end war in Afghanistan in 2014. We've put Al ….we're training up Afghan forces , we're accomplishing the core of what we went in there afte r911 and it's time for US troops to begin coming home. All of our NATO allies are in complete agreement on timeline to end NATO combat mission and the transition process is already underway. One of the few specifics he's outlines is opposition to timeline..we'll he double down on his opposition whenhe meets Cameron..how will he address….Voters deserve answers to these questions. If he is ready to be commander in chief he needs to prove that he' s open for ….obviously Israel, the next stop.
Colin Kahl, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East
This article appears in Jul 19-25, 2012.