Romney Bluster Brings Kerry Blast

In an op-ed piece in the Washington Post, Mitt Romney compared the President to “feckless” Jimmy Carter who “fretted in the White House” for 444 days while the Iranians held U.S. diplomats hostage. But then, fearing the wrath of Ronald Reagan once he was elected, the Iranians set them free. Are we are to infer that Iran would halt its nuclear development the moment Romney replaces Obama.

Funny story, though. If you remember those days and found it a bit suspicious that the hostage release was announced literally on the day of Reagan’s inauguration, even before any contact with the new administration, or so the new administration would insist, you are not alone. The belief is that Reagan and running-mate George H. W. Bush were aware that Carter had negotiated the release and would announce it in what came to be called the “October Surprise” — which would give Carter a big boost in the polls just before the 1980 election. The accusation is that Iran was persuaded to wait — on the promise by Reagan-Bush of covert weapons shipments. Sound far-fetched? You can read further about it here.

Romney went on to say “I will station multiple aircraft carriers and warships at Iran’s door”. The 5th Fleet already patrols the Gulf. Romney would "press for ever-tightening sanctions, acting with other countries if we can but alone if we must" and days earlier he had said, “This is a president who has failed to put into place crippling sanctions against Iran”. Successive levels of sanctions are exactly what Obama has imposed — sanctions so tight that Iran has threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz if they are put in effect on schedule July 1. “The United States cannot afford to let Iran acquire nuclear weapons. Yet under Barack Obama, that is the course we are on”. The President at the same time was saying, “My policy is prevention of Iran obtaining nuclear weapons”.

Romney either hopes that voters are clueless (Washington Post readers?) about actions the Obama Administration has taken and hopes deliberately to mislead voters, or is clueless himself. There doesn’t seem to be a third option.

John Kerry, head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, followed with his own op-ed, a blistering smackdown, criticizing Romney for inserting himself into U.S. foreign policy once again (he had attempted to disrupt ratification of New START, the arms reduction treaty with Russia), and calling his attack on Obama’s Iran policy “inaccurate as it is aggressive”. He slams Romney for “creating false differences with President Obama”, presumably referring to those we just pointed out, and faults him for not treating the nuclear problem with Iran as “deadly serious business” that “should invite sobriety and thoughtfulness, not sloganeering and sound bites” and “just another applause line on the stump”.