9:39 PM - 9 Oct 12 · Details
Romney is right on Syria
By Lori Handrahan, professor, School of International Service, American University - 10/09/12 01:00 PM ET
Mitt Romney’s foreign policy speech on Monday highlighted President Obama’s biggest foreign policy test and failure: Syria. I’ve been speculating that President Obama’s decision to ignore the Syrian genocide might cost him the White House. Yesterday, Governor Romney brought that possibility one step closer to home.
From Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) incessant call to action on Syria, to the Washington Post’s Editorial Board writing today “Mr. Obama has stood by — or pursued feckless diplomatic initiatives — while Syria has descended into a maelstrom of massacres” and New York Times columnist Nick Kristof saying President Obama is AWOL on Syria, President Obama’s hypocrisy and inaction on Syria has become a bi-partisan issue outraging conservatives and liberals alike. Mitt Romney’s foreign policy team finally seems to be taking America’s pulse on Syria and responding.Regardless of what the Obama Administration calls President Assad’s bloodbath, Syria is now a genocide. The early summer massacres in Houla, Tremesh and Aleppo are already long forgotten as the mass atrocities and mass graves stack up daily. Across the country Americans are saddened, sickened and outraged; helplessly watching the genocide from our twitter feeds and YouTube accounts.
From Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) incessant call to action on Syria, to the Washington Post’s Editorial Board writing today “Mr. Obama has stood by — or pursued feckless diplomatic initiatives — while Syria has descended into a maelstrom of massacres” and New York Times columnist Nick Kristof saying President Obama is AWOL on Syria, President Obama’s hypocrisy and inaction on Syria has become a bi-partisan issue outraging conservatives and liberals alike. Mitt Romney’s foreign policy team finally seems to be taking America’s pulse on Syria and responding.Regardless of what the Obama Administration calls President Assad’s bloodbath, Syria is now a genocide. The early summer massacres in Houla, Tremesh and Aleppo are already long forgotten as the mass atrocities and mass graves stack up daily. Across the country Americans are saddened, sickened and outraged; helplessly watching the genocide from our twitter feeds and YouTube accounts.
President Obama likes to think of himself as a “foreign policy president.” Yet, in his most important foreign policy decision he exposed himself a president who refused to take the hard leadership needed to prevent mass atrocities and genocide; the “cornerstone” foreign policy he himself established. When a president fails to uphold his own foreign policy, Mitt Romney is correct to call attention. If only Romney had done so sooner.
