I enjoyed the two fantastic zingers that President Obama delivered to Mitt Romney tonight, and have enjoyed the discussion about them; however, one of the things that really stood out to me was when President Obama reminded us of Mitt Romney's failed overseas trip this summer. I think it was a sobering moment which Mitt Romney did not even try to defend after President Obama made his comments. (Found the video and added it along with the transcript to the bottom of this diary). Fortunately, The New York Times has just posted an article with the quote. The zingers everybody will be talking about for the next few days are the ones in that diary, but the one that really resonated with me was the one that indirectly pointed out that, as Harry Reid said at the time, Romney Went to London and "Insulted Everybody" (Embarrassed U.S.).
The enmity between the men surfaced again and again, and the president seemed to have studied each attack line that Mr. Romney had used in the past, like his oft-repeated criticism of Mr. Obama’s supposed “apology tour” of the world. “You said that on occasion America had dictated to other nations,” Mr. Romney said. “Mr. President, America has not dictated to other nations. We have freed other nations from dictators.”
Mr. Obama hit back fast. “If we’re going to talk about trips that we’ve taken,” he said before pausing dramatically, in a reference to Mr. Romney’s foreign trip this summer, when he was widely derided for insulting Britain’s ability to host the Olympic Games and for holding fund-raisers in London and in Israel. “When I was a candidate for office, the first trip I took was to visit our troops,” he continued. “And when I went to Israel as a candidate, I didn’t take donors. I didn’t attend fund-raisers.”
Obama and Romney Bristle From Start Over Foreign Policy
The Hill also has a story about this part of the debate, and picks up where
The New York Times left off.
... Obama said in a pointed jab at Romney's unprecedented fundraising trip to Jerusalem with casino mogul Sheldon Adelson this summer.
Instead, Obama said, he visited a Holocaust museum and Israeli homes attacked by Palestinian rocket fire “and I was reminded of what that would mean if those were my kids” coming under fire.
“Which is why as president, we funded an Iron Dome program to stop those missiles. So that's how I've used my travels,” Obama said.
Obama: ‘Apology tour’ charge is Romney’s ‘biggest whopper’
I was so proud of President Obama at that moment. Of course, I would have really enjoyed it if he had called Mitt Romney a
#RomneyShambles ... certainly something I would liked to have done, but of course, President Obama has too much class to use that kind of term on a public stage. But I will always be grateful for the Brits who took one of their favorite insults (
OmniShambles) and customized just for Mitt Romney.
Update: MSNBC has posted the entire debate online, and I was able to cut out the clip of the section I was talking about:
President Obama: When I took office, the world was divided. Iran was resurging. Iran is at its weakest point economically, strategically, militarily in many years. And we are going to keep the pressure on to make sure that the do not get a nuclear weapon. And that's in America's national interest, and that will be the case so long as I am president.
Mitt Romney: We're four years closer to a nuclear Iran. We're four years closer to a nuclear Iran. And we should not have wasted these four years to the extent they've continued to be able to spin these centrifuges and get that much closer. That's number one. Number two, Mr. President, the reason I call it an Apology Tour, is because you went to the Middle East and you flew to Egypt and to Saudi Arabia and to Turkey and Iraq, and by the way you skipped Israel, our closest friend in the region. But you went to the other nations, and by the way they noticed that you skipped Israel. And then in those nations on Arabic T.V. you said that America had been dismissive and derisive. You said that on occasion America had dictated to other nations. Mr. President, America has not dictated to other nations. We have freed other nations from dictators.
President Obama: Bob, let me respond. If we’re going to talk about trips that we’ve taken; when I was a candidate for office, the first trip I took was to visit our troops. And when I went to Israel as a candidate, I didn’t take donors. I didn’t attend fund-raisers. I went to Yad Vashem, the holocaust museum there to remind myself of the nature of evil and why our bond with Israel will be unbreakable. And then I went down to the border towns of Sderot which had experienced missiles raining in down from Hamas, and I saw families there who showed me where missiles had come down near their children's bedrooms, and I was reminded of what that would mean if those were my kids, Which is why as president, we funded an Iron Dome program to stop those missiles. So that's how I've used my travels; when I traveled to Israel and when I traveled to the region. And the central question at this point is going to be, who's going to be credible to all parties involved and they can look at my track record, whether it's Iran sanctions; whether it's dealing with counter-terrorism; whether it's supporting democracy; whether it's supporting women's rights; whether it's supporting religious minorities; and they can say that the President of the United States and the United States of America has stood on the right side of history. And that kind of credibility is precisely why we've been able to show leadership on a wide range of issues facing the world right now.
A gentle reminder of the status in the world eight years of George W. Bush brought to this country. Did you
see the radio interview with Ireland's President Michael D Higgins back in August? He remembered!
The fact of the matter is — look. Young people from the United States are traveling all over the world again. They’re welcome in Europe. They’re backpackers and hostels. People are talking to them. Because the image of the United States, we’ve got away from this warmongering is getting better.
President Obama has changed for the better the way the world looks at the United States! Four more years! Mitt Romney would bring us back down to where we were with George W. Bush. I am going to phone bank my heart out here in Florida from now until Election Day! How about you? Have you volunteered yet?