U.S. President Barack Obama addresses the 67th United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters in New York September 25, 2012. REUTERS/Mike SegarBy Matt Spetalnick and Mark Felsenthal | Reuters
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Taking a detour from the campaign trail to the world stage, President Barack Obama sought on Tuesday to counter attacks on his foreign policy record from Republican rival Mitt Romney on everything from the Iranian nuclear standoff to U.S.-Israeli relations to the Arab Spring.
At the podium of the cavernous U.N. General Assembly hall six weeks before the U.S. election, Obama addressed both American voters and world leaders, as he defended his approach to global challenges that have started piling up in the final stretch of a close presidential race.
Obama’s stern warning to Iran over its nuclear program was meant not only for the mullahs in Tehran and for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has pressed Washington to take a tougher tack, but also for pro-Israel voters who could help sway the election in battleground states like Florida and Ohio.
His challenge to the fast-changing Arab world to embrace democratic values of free speech and tolerance and reject the kind of anti-U.S. violence that has swept the region in recent weeks was a clear rebuttal to Republican accusations that he has apologized for America and weakened its global standing.
“I accept that people are going to call me awful things every day,” Obama said, in a comment that could be read as referring to both flag-burning protesters in Islamabad and political opponents at home. “And I will defend their right to do so.” The line drew laughter from an audience that otherwise sat in mostly polite but stoic silence.
With Obama headed to battleground Ohio on Wednesday, and Romney arriving there on Tuesday for a bus tour with vice presidential running mate Paul Ryan, both presidential campaigns are likely to return to bread-and-butter economic message.
But foreign policy and America’s world standing have become more of a factor in the campaign during the last two weeks, as the Muslim world has been roiled by protests over a film mocking the Prophet Mohammed.
Sensing an opening, Romney and Ryan have escalated their attacks on the president’s handling of world events. And after Obama’s U.N. address, the Republican camp made clear they weren’t letting up. Eric Cantor, Republican majority leader in the House of Representatives, said Obama’s foreign policy is “rudderless.”
Paula Dobriansky, a Romney foreign policy adviser, was more specific. “President Obama listed the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Syria, and Iran as major challenges facing the international community,” she said. “But those are three vital issues on which President Obama has unfortunately made no progress. The rhetoric doesn’t match the policy.”
Neither Romney nor Obama are likely to talk about foreign aid or human trafficking when they return to Ohio, a politically divided state that will be crucial in determining who wins the November 6 election.
With only six weeks until the vote, Romney is running out of time to gain ground on the incumbent president.
Obama widened his lead in the Reuters/Ipsos daily tracking poll to 7 percentage points over Romney, up 1 point from Monday. Obama now leads among likely voters 49 to 42 percent.
