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Updated 2:43 p.m. - SAN DIEGO, CA -- Mitt Romney assailed President Obama's comments to outgoing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev about increased "flexibility" after the election this fall.
Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP
President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev chat following the conclusion of their bilateral meeting March 26 at the Nuclear Security Summit Seoul, South Korea.
At a medical device company in San Diego, Romney called the president's comments -- captured Monday on an open microphone -- "an alarming and troubling development" as part of a longer wind-up about the importance of missile defense and standing by our allies.
“This weekend, the president happened to be somewhere where the microphone was left open. You may have heard that. It can be revealing, in this case, it was. He was speaking with Mr. Medvedev, of Russia. And he said, ‘This is my last election, I can be more flexible after the election is over,'" Romney started.
"Now when the president of the United States is speaking with the leader of Russia saying he can be more flexible after the election, that is an alarming and troubling development," Romney said. "There's no time for our president to be pulling his punches with the American people and not telling us what he's intending to do with regards to our missile defense system; with regards to our military might and with regards to our commitment to Israel; and with regards to our absolute conviction that Iran must have a nuclear weapon."
Obama's comments were captured at the very beginning of the photo opportunity after the the bilateral meeting between the president and Medvedev, when the two leaders were leaned over and speaking to each other.
RELATED: Obama's hot mic moment
"This is my last election," Obama was heard saying, "After my election I have more flexibility."
Medvedev responded that he would "transmit this information to Vladimir," meaning Vladimir Putin, the president-elect of Russia.
A Russian journalist's recording indicates the two leaders were talking about missile defense, a touchy area in U.S.-Russian relations.
Before Romney's remarks had concluded, President Obama's campaign pushed back at the former Massachusetts governor's criticism.
“Once again Governor Romney is undermining his credibility by distorting the President’s words," Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt said in a statement. "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."
Romney delivered his attack of the president during a speech that began with a critique of the President's health care law. Standing before a sign reading "Repeal and Replace Obamacare," Romney said there were "a lot of reasons not to like Obamacare," and outlined a number of his issues with the law, but stopped short of his usual direct call for the bill's repeal.
In his more than twenty minutes of remarks, Romney also never mentioned the Supreme Court case beginning today that could decide the law's fate well before the November election.
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"Russia is our number one foreign policy threat" really Mitt? Today maybe, but we know you'll say China tomorrow, then North Korea, then Terrorism, then Syria, etc. Getting tired of his flatulence when we can't even figure out what he really believes in.
Romney knows all about "flexibility" with a rubber neck like his?How could he not know about "flexibility" when his head has spent more time between his legs than his bells.(I had to clean that up.)
Romney has been dating Sarah Palin on the side. Don't tell anyone OK? They want to keep it secret & it's nobody's business
republican conservative tea mongerers can't even agree that a huge , unjustifiable killing has taken place again in our country. keck said race relations are worst in 50 years, that's why that murderer shot that kid. 50 years ago , a black person had to move off the sidewalk when a white person was passing. 50 years ago , blacks weren't allowed to eat at same restaurants with whites. 50 years ago , blacks could not be in certain parts of town , at certain times of night. 50 years ago , black kids couldn't attend schools with white kids. SO , IT'S APPARENT , '' THIS IS THE LIFE, REPUBLICAN CONSERVATIVE, WHITE TEA DRINKERS CALLED , '' THE BEST RACE RELATIONS ''. THESE GENUIS MUST ALSO THINK THERE ARE RAILROAD TRACKS IN HEAVEN. CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW MANY ARE PAYING THE PRICE FOR THAT SERIOUS MISCALCULATION ????? !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Not to worry. you saw what happened to all the Tea Party candidates. They weren't supported by other republicans, Americans don't like them & can see through their false patriotism
I am afraid that mittens is starting to believe that Tea Bag crap,he is starting to talk like them.I guess when you're as weak and unprincipled as he is you feel the need to try to relate to someone and I guess they are the only ones left.He can't relate to true conservatives,because of his healthcare mandate.He can't relate to democrats because he turned his back on healthcare.Does he fit the Tea Bag mold?I don't think so ,some women are Tea Baggers aren't they?I guess it doesn't matter,above all else he has his Etch-A-Sketch.He can just erase what ever doesn't work with whomever he is trying to appeal to and that way he can appeal to everyone.Well,how about that America has a truly All-American President ,if Romney wins and he keeps his Etch-A-Sketch everyone will be happy.
It is hard to believe that a boob like Obama graduated from Harvard and won a Nobel Peace Prize. Obama is the real Forrest Gump. We must be living in the lib version of the Twilight Zone.
Forrest Gump was Rick Perry... Obama is more like Tom Hanks in "The Divinci Code" & "Saving Private Ryan"
But, you are right, Obama like Tom Hanks can do well in several rolls
Mitten is confused and attempting to mislead voters, again. The President was talking to a Russian leader not the US population. Most of the US electorate already knows US Presidents can only run for office twice. It's likely that the Russian President also knew that as well. Mitten treats common knowledge like a conspiracy theory.
Maybe Romney could send Vice-President Santorum to be rude to the Ruskies.
Jim372206- Romney had better hope that Glenn Rice doesn't find out about them.
I won't tell anyone Romney & Palin are dating, so he won't find out from me
Sig-1249839-that way they could keep their military-industrial kickbacks flowing to their numbered Swiss bank accounts.With all of the rest of their compensation package.
the only thing alarming here is that these right wing candidates are war mongers.
Jim-372206-The moose in Alaska are starting to get edgy,they may be able to sense something is going on.
She's in heat again,, rabbits noticed it too
Repeal and Replace Obamacare with Romney care. I like.
OMG...I cant believe he did that...lol No but really I bet every pres had done @!$%# like this...no damn biggie.
Bad move on Obama's part. Think he would be smarter not to fumble this close to the election. Probably too early to stick. Wouldn't matter anyway, his supporters wont drop him. Look at their faces when the camera scans the crowd at one of his events, they look like kid's that are seeing Micky Mouse for the first time. Hypnotized with a constant grin.
Romney is a fool - a superficial, shallow, ignorant - not uneducated - just ignorant. He's ignorant because he has yet to realize that he has no principled views, no core values beyond his family values - which are palpable. I will give him that - I think he appears to be a good family man, husband, and father - perhaps not the best pet owner! But the bottom line is that he only says only that which he believes will get him a handful of votes no matter how self-contradictory, how hypocritical it is, how un-grounded it is. He would be dangerous as a president - dangerous!
Romney's stupid, imprudent comments today were one more sign why he simply cannot be President and should not be the Republican candidate. If Republicans had on their thinking caps, they would know this. First of all, the President was very straight forward. What he said was absolutely right on. It did not shock me and I doubt if it shocked any educated person. Anyone watching American politics knows that with the current Republican House and the negative Republican attititude, the President does not have flexibility needed to accomplish anything right now. Give him time to get re-elected and get rid of every Republican in Office in Congress and the President can get something accomplished. He said it quite prudently honestly to the Russian leader. We should note that he did it without bad mouthing anyone back here at home.
This is 2012 and Russia is not the biggest threat we have. Only a stupid amateur would still think that, let alone say it. We have philosophical, social and political differences with Russia but they are not the Evil Empire and our politicians should be intelligent enough to know that. We have far more serious problems with many other countries . We need to be able to work with Russia so that should problems arise, we might be able to have them as an ally. Romney allowed his stupidity and ignorance to put the US on display by insulting another country while our President is out of the country. A more experienced,polished politician would have behaved more intelligently and appropriately.
What does Romney think world leaders talk about in private conversation...the weather? It's called diplomacy and it's of a very frank nature and not meant for evesdroppers to speculate over. In this case the president was cautioning the Russian PM that he couldn't formulate anything between them while the GOP is waiting to tear it apart as an election gimmick.This is why these conversations are private or nothing could be accomplished.
Yes, Romney. I`d love to have heard some of your Bain backdoor deals behind closed doors?
Here`s one....I don`t care if they have families ..Phuch em all & fire them or your`re next!
You don't need to fish to find dirt on Obama. Talk about flip-flop! Gimme a break. Listen to his campaign promises, then see what he has done. Here is a clue for you blind libs; nothing similar to what he promised. Absolutely nothing.
We can assume that this is not the only world leader that Obama has made similar comments to. Once he no longer has an election to worry about who knows what crazy agreements he would make.
Apparently Mitt was thinking Obama was having an Etch-a-Sketch moment.
Actually I think the campaign just has him tense and he will be much more flexible after it is all over.
Nothing traitorous about it.
Obviously he is only saying he has to be careful about what he says and does until after the elections because the opposition will twist everything to mean what it does not - - - - - just as Mitt has done here.
The President can't do anything without presenting it to the various branches of Government and the American people. Pretty hard to do some traitorous act in such a transparent system.
He is just very aware of the game of politics, the GOP has made it their mission to oppose everything he has tried to do because they want to defeat him. They don't care about the welfare of the nation. It is a competition for them. He has to hold back on what he says because the spinners will twist the truth, they have done just that as long as he has been President.
Mitt Romney was the butt of the joke and he had the World Leaders laughing at how stupid he is. But it was President Medvedev who got the last laugh for the World Summit as he said Mitt should check his watch as it's 2012 not 1970. At lease thanks to Mitt and the US Media/GOP attacking President Obama on a non issue the World got to see how dumb the Republican candidate for President is.
Yes Jack...he also made a not so subtle observation that the rest of the world is unsure of what party Romney represents.
Trust Romney to do two things:
1. Turn a harmless discussion about missile defense against anyone that supports them
and
2. To shoot off his mouth and make some absurdest claim that till tank is poll numbers again.
This is 2012, the 21st Century. Russia stopped being our enemy when the former USSR collapsed in the 1990's. If we ever want to deal with Iran's runaway Government we are going to need Russia's help; cannot do that if we alienate them from being our allies.
Geowil ~~ I agree with your observation. Everyone knows that, in life (and politics) it pays to play nice. Do what you can, when you can, then step back and observe situations so you'll know how to proceed in the future. There is not one politician out there that knows everything. Mistakes will be made, which helps us to learn where we went wrong.
There is a terribly long history of miss-handling on many levels. It can't be wiped out in one administration (which did not start with the Obama administration). President Obama has tried to set certain things in motion, to clean up former administrations mess, only to be thwarted by Congress. Congress doesn't care if what President Obama does helps the nation, because they don't want HIM in office, so they are sabotaging his every move. To me, that shows that Congress isn't really for the people, but rather they are for their personal agendas.
Geowil I agree totally with your comment at #131 as does Reni. The United States, Russia, and China really have a kind of obligation to try and find some kind of a consensus and work together rather than constantly be at each others throats all of the time. Today we have small countries like North Korea, Iran, and others who are becoming possible nuclear threats. If we (meaning the 3 most powerful nations in the world) allow them to force us to take sides politically that can only bode disaster in the long run.
Personally I am concerned about America's commitment in support of Israel. We do have a moral obligation of sorts to them as a protector but we certainly are not committed to follow them into and ill advised outright attack on another country without a world wide consensus. If they should decide to proceed on their own in that effort they should have to go it alone and we should simply put our hands in our pockets and stay out of it and let the chips fall where they may.
Unfortunately the GOP still maintains this "my way or the highway" attitude that often flies in the faces of the other nations of the world and that is just no way to foster international cooperation. That is why what President Obama said to Medvedev in an aside is certainly no cause for alarm but rather a cause for hope that we are finally on a path toward some kind of a world wide consensus and possibly some sense of peace and security. Just my opinion but I know that our past attitudes haven't fared very well with the rest of the world and we are increasingly belng viewed as aggressive bullies.
TRUST?...interesting choice of words. How do we trust a president who whispers secrets to the enemy he can't say out loud to the people he is suppose to be protecting. You can all laugh it off and pretend it is no big deal.....now close your eyes and do something.......imagine ANY other president getting caught saying that and being ok with it. You can't . Be honest, at least with yourselves......it's NOT ok.
Jackie,
The President is smart enough to know that no matter what he says the GOP candidates will spin it into some big deal - - - - - oh ya, Mitt just did.
They would take a normally good step forward and turn it into two steps back just to get elected.
I find it a bit odd that many people still regard Russia as an enemy. Sure they have certain ideological differences from ours but we have never actually fought with them in a declared shooting war. Yes we did have some conflict over Korea in the 1950s when they supported China who was backing North Korea and some gunfire was exchanged with some of their advisors but we were never officially at war with the then Soviet Union. Despite our differences we have thus far managed to avoid any real major conflict. The Cold War seems to have somehow ingrained it into our social psyche that they are somehow an enemy of our country.
Shall we still regard the Japanese and the Germans as our enemies? How about the Chinese? After all China supported North Korea against us and became a Communist country. Actually, they were an ally of sorts during World War II yet many still see the Chinese as being some sort of an enemy as well. My point in all of this is that we are really wasting our time and our energy being frightened and paranoid of everyone and thinking that they are "out to get us" in some way. When you act like a victim very often you become one and if we bristle and distrust everyone it is not difficult to understand why they return the favor so often.
The world is not a gated community with an owner's association who dictates the standards for all to live by. Just because our neighbors like to put garden gnomes and pink swans in their front yards is no reason for us to revile them. It just means that they are a little different from us and really mean us no harm. If we insist in getting up in their faces all the time then sooner or later they are going to oblige us with a fight. That just seems short sighted and ill advised to me. Peace is so much more pleasant. LOL