GOP Presidential candidate Mitt Romney was on CNN commenting about President Barack Obama's "hot mic" moment with Russian President Dimitry Medvedev.
[President] Obama was overheard asking for time - "particularly with missile defense" - until he is in a better position politically to resolve such issues.
"I understand your message about space," replied Medvedev, who will hand over the presidency to Putin in May.
"This is my last election ... After my election I have more flexibility," Obama said, expressing confidence he will win a second term.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Wolf Blitzer asked Romney what he thought about what the President said and Romney relished the opportunity to fear monger about what he believes is the Gaffe of the Century:
"There's something terribly wrong with that. It is alarming. It is troubling. The agreement that the president put in place with regards to nuclear weapons is one which I find very, very troubling already....
Russia is not a friendly character on the world stage, and for this president to be looking for greater flexibility, where he doesn't have to answer to the American people in his relations with Russia is very, very troubling, very alarming. I'm very, very concerned. I think the American people are going to feel the same way. This is a president who is telling us one thing and is doing something else, and is planning on doing something else even more frightening.
And so, in terms of a geopolitical foe, a nation that's on the Security Council, that has the heft of the Security Council, and is, of course, a massive nuclear power, Russia is the geopolitical foe, and the idea that our president is planning on doing something with them that he's not willing to tell the American people before the election is something I find very, very alarming."
http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/...
Mitt thought that this would be a game changing moment for him, but it turns out he comes off looking so bad, that the President of Russia had to smack down a Presidential candidate about his woeful lack of understanding on foreign affairs.
Medvedev said:
"Regarding ideological clichés, every time this or that side uses phrases like 'enemy number one', this always alarms me, this smells of Hollywood and certain times (of the past)," Medvedev said at the end of a nuclear security summit in the South Korean capital.
"I would recommend all U.S. presidential candidates ... to do two things. First, when phrasing their position one needs to use one's head, one's good reason, which would not do harm to a presidential candidate.
"Also, (one needs to) look at his watch: we are in 2012 and not the mid-1970s."
http://www.reuters.com/...
White House press secretary Jay Carney weighed in too:
"Carney on Tuesday took issue with comments from Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney stating that Russia was America’s “number one geopolitical foe.”
Carney, a former Moscow-based correspondent for TIME magazine, stated that “in a world where Al Qaeda is so clearly the preeminent threat to the United States, and similar organizations, it seems a little inaccurate to make that statement about Russia where Russia is a county that we have been able to cooperate with on very important issues even as we disagree with them on others and that includes missile defense and Syria.”
http://abcnews.go.com/...
Meanwhile the President is not at all worried about the supposed gaffe as the media has confirmed the essence of what he was saying in his hot mic moment: he can't get big things done with the current Congress."
Comment begins at the 1:00 minute mark:
"The only way I get this stuff done is If I’m consulting with the Pentagon, with Congress, if I’ve got bipartisan support and frankly, the current environment is not conducive to those kinds of thoughtful consultations,” Obama told reporters following a meeting with the presidents of Russia and Kazakhstan. “I think the stories you guys have been writing over the last 24hoours is pretty good evidence of that."
http://www.politico.com/...
The President added, "I think we'll do better in 2013."