Romney slams Obama’s ‘six exaggerations’ at AIPAC

http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/photogallery/may-2011-photo-day

President Barack Obama talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel as they walk from the Oval Office to the South Lawn Drive of the White House, following their meetings

Generally, campaign press releases are unrelenting twaddle. But Romney put out a decent one today… better, frankly, than his not-too-dramatic op-ed in today’s WaPo. (Really, Mitt, shipbuilding will be job one in taking on Iran?)

But back to the release. Romney slams President Obama for “six exaggerations” in his AIPAC speech. They’re spot on, and I’m recasting below.

1.) Obama takes credit for leading on Iranian central bank sanctions and oil exports. But he opposed that sanctions amendment and still hasn’t imposed the full sanctions available under law against the Central Bank.

2.) Obama committed to joint missile defense programs, like “Iron Dome,” that protect Israel. Well, OK, if you call systematically cutting funding for Iron Dome and claiming credit for increases that Congress imposed.

3.) Obama “rallied” a “divided” international community to impose sanctions on Iran by “exposing” its intransigence. If you call sucking up to Iran, failed “engagement,” and lagging so far behind that it is now Europe that sets the gold standard on Iran sanctions.

4.) Bush let centrifuges proliferate in Iran, and Obama slowed them down with sanctions. Er, what? The number of centrifuges operating has grown 124 percent on Obama’s watch, and its nuclear enrichment rate last year was higher than 2010 and is now at the highest rate ever.

5.) The “loose talk of war” trope. It has all come from Obama’s team.

6.) Obama stood up for Israel at the United Nations. For real? By focusing on settlements? Asking for funding for UNESCO after it admitted “Palestine”?

PS. For those of you who are going to accuse me of shilling for Romney, get lives. Obama gets credit when he does something right.

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About the Author

 

Danielle
Pletka

  • As a long-time Senate Committee on Foreign Relation senior professional staff member for the Near East and South Asia, Danielle Pletka was the point person on Middle East, Pakistan, India and Afghanistan issues. As the vice president for foreign and defense policy studies at AEI, Pletka writes on national security matters with a focus on Iran and weapons proliferation, the Middle East, Syria, Israel and the Arab Spring. She also studies and writes about South Asia: Pakistan, India and Afghanistan.


    Pletka is the co-editor of “Dissent and Reform in the Arab World: Empowering Democrats” (AEI Press, 2008) and the co-author of “Containing and Deterring a Nuclear Iran” (AEI Press, 2011). Her most recent study, “Iranian influence in the Levant, Egypt, Iraq, and Afghanistan,” was published in May 2012. She is currently working on a follow-up report on U.S.–Iranian competitive strategies in the Middle East, to be published in the summer of 2013.


  • Phone: 202-862-5943
    Email: dpletka@aei.org
  • Assistant Info

    Name: Alexandra Della Rocchetta
    Phone: 202-862-7152
    Email: alex.dellarocchetta@aei.org

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