The Obama campaign is in damage control mode after a hot mic caught President Obama telling Russian president Dmitry Medvedev he could be more “flexible” in missile defense negotiations once campaign season was over.
“President Obama signaled that he’s going to cave to Russia on missile defense, but the American people have a right to know where else he plans to be ‘flexible’ in a second term,” Mitt Romney said in a statement.
The White House released a response to the incident reaffirming that “[t]he United States is committed to implementing our missile defense system, which we’ve repeatedly said is not aimed at Russia.” But Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt followed up with an attack on his own noting that Romney has been accused of keeping his options open with vague foreign policy positions.
“Once again Governor Romney is undermining his credibility by distorting the President’s words,” LaBolt said. “Governor Romney has been all over the map on the key foreign policy challenges facing our nation today, offering a lot of chest thumping and empty rhetoric with no concrete plans to enhance our security or strengthen our alliances. Governor Romney once said that a president is not a foreign policy expert and that he would rely on the experts and defer to his lawyers on critical foreign policy issues. Instead of passing the buck, it is time that Governor Romney shared his foreign policy agenda with the American people.”
