Barack Obama (AP)
WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney will deliver his first sweeping foreign-policy speech today, slamming President Obama on everything from defense-spending cuts to free trade.
“I know the president hopes for a safer, freer and a more prosperous Middle East allied with the United States,” Romney will say, according to prepared remarks to be delivered today at Virginia Military Institute.
“I share his hope, but hope is not strategy,” Romney said. “We cannot support our friends and defeat our foes in the Middle East when our words are not backed up by deeds.”
The first full post-debate survey, out yesterday by Rasmussen Reports, showed Romney leading Obama 49 percent to 47 percent, but he is trailing the president by the same margin in polls for critical swing states.
Pollsters will now be watching whether Romney can maintain his debate bounce, said pollster Scott Rasmussen.
“Incumbent presidents often struggle in the first debate and do better in the second,” Rasmussen said. “Ronald Reagan may be the greatest example of this. Does Obama have a comeback like that in him? We’ll find out on Oct. 16.”
The first Gallup survey since the debate yesterday showed the president’s approval rating dropping from 54 to 48 percent.
The University of Denver released its own survey yesterday showing Obama leading Romney 47 to 43 percent in that swing state. Rassmussen’s survey also showed Obama doing better, 49 percent to 47 percent, collectively in the 12 swing states.
Obama was in LA for three fund-raisers yesterday expected to bring in $5 million. Six-thousand donors bought tickets to an Obama event at the Nokia Theatre, and another $25,000-a-pop event was scheduled at a Wolfgang Puck restaurant. Obama attended a private event at DreamWorks Animation chief Jeffrey Katzenberg’s home with Bill Clinton.
On the campaign trail yesterday in the critical swing state of Florida, Romney rode the wave of his debate performance, spiking the ball in Obama’s face.
“You all had the chance to hear his answers or his non-answers. Now, of course, days later, we’re hearing his excuses,” Romney told an estimated 12,000 cheering supporters in Port St. Lucie.
In the Middle East speech, Romney said he would take a more active role in Syria than Obama, helping to “organize those members of the opposition who share our values and ensure they obtain the arms to defeat [Syrian President Bashar] Assad’s tanks, helicopters and fighter jets.”
Romney criticized Obama for cuts in defense spending and failing to approve free-trade agreements. He supports a Palestinian state but vows to stand with Israel against Iran, he said.
“I will support friends across the Middle East who share our values but need help defending them and their sovereignty against our common enemies,” Romney said.
To Romney’s foreign-policy comments, Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki responded: “We’re not going to be lectured by someone who has been an unmitigated disaster on foreign policy every time he’s dipped his toe in the foreign-policy waters.”