Obama’s Strategy Shows Misunderstanding of Terrorist Threat, Republicans Say

Republican lawmakers on Sunday criticized President Obama’s vision for winding down the war on terrorism, using talk show appearances to accuse him of misunderstanding the threat in a way that will embolden unfriendly nations.

“We show this lack of resolve, talking about the war being over,” Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said on “Fox News Sunday.” “What do you think the Iranians are thinking? At the end of the day, this is the most tone-deaf president I ever could imagine.”

In his first major foreign policy address of his second term, Mr. Obama said last week that it was time for the United States to narrow the scope of its long battle against terrorists and begin a transition away from a war footing.

In addition to renewing his call to close the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, he said he would seek to limit his own war powers. He also issued new policy guidelines that would shift the responsibility for drone strikes to the military from the Central Intelligence Agency, and said there would be stricter standards for such attacks.

Mr. Graham, a strong supporter of the drone program, said he objected to changing the standards. Separately, he called for a special counsel to investigate both the Justice Department, which has come under scrutiny for seizing journalists’ phone records, and the Internal Revenue Service, which has acknowledged that it unfairly targeted conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status.

Democrats, including Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida and Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, praised Mr. Obama for what they said was a necessary rebalancing of civil liberties and national security interests. “We have to balance our values,” Ms. Wasserman Schultz said Sunday on the ABC News program “This Week.”

But at least two lawmakers — the current and former chairmen of the House Homeland Security Committee, Representative Michael McCaul of Texas and Peter T. King of New York — complained specifically about the president’s remarks about Guantánamo Bay.

Mr. McCaul warned against closing the detention center, especially if it meant moving prisoners to the United States. “Name me one American city that would like to host these guys,” he said on the CNN program “State of the Union.”

More than half the remaining 166 detainees at Guantánamo Bay are Yemeni; of these, 56 have been cleared to go home. Mr. Obama has proposed repatriating detainees when he can, but will still face the thorny question of what to do several dozen men who cannot be prosecuted and who have been deemed to be too dangerous to release.

Mr. King, appearing with Ms. Wasserman Schultz on “This Week,” said the detention facility had been a success. “Many experts believe it did work,” he said, adding that he was “very concerned about sending detainees back to Yemen.” Noting that Mr. Obama had campaigned on a promise to close the prison, he said the president “could have done a lot more than he has done if he was serious about it rather than just moralizing.”

In calling for a special counsel, Mr. Graham said the Justice Department had begun to “criminalize journalism” and had engaged in “an overreach” in investigating leaks of classified national security information. He also complained of an “organized effort” within the I.R.S. to target political opponents of the president. “I think it comes from the top,” he said, although current and former I.R.S. officials have said Mr. Obama did not know of the targeting.

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Analysis: Romney's play-it-safe strategy at risk (Reuters)

BOSTON (Reuters) – Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney is running a disciplined campaign focused on slamming President Barack Obama and promoting his own skills, but pressure could mount for a more aggressive approach as his poll numbers worsen.

This week a trio of opinion surveys showed Romney trailing Texas Governor Rick Perry, who jumped into the 2012 race less than two weeks ago and generated a blaze of mostly favorable publicity.

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor and venture capitalist, has been the nominal front-runner among Republicans so far, partly reflecting his name recognition after finishing second to John McCain in his 2008 run.

Romney's second White House run, launched in June, has been designed around almost daily attacks on Obama. His campaign appearances have been relatively scarce and balanced by a heavy fund-raising schedule.

"We've stayed focused on talking to people about why Governor Romney is the best alternative to President Obama on the most important issue facing our country: jobs and the economy. That's what this race will be about," said Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul.

The Romney campaign issues regular videos on the theme "Obama Isn't Working," which highlights high unemployment. It mocked the president's recent bus trip through the Midwest as a "Magical Misery Tour," complete with tie-dye T-shirts available for a $30 campaign pledge.

Romney has led most polls among the Republican challengers this year, but with numbers well below levels that create a sense of inevitability.

Both Gallup and Public Policy Polling on Wednesday issued national surveys of likely Republican primary voters that showed Rick Perry holding a sizable lead.

"So far he (Romney) has really played it safe. I really think that strategy can't continue with Rick Perry in the race," said Krystal Ball, a Democratic strategist and former Congressional contender in Virginia.

"If Romney is going to stay in the game, he has to take more risks."

TOO EARLY FOR PANIC?

Political scientist Charles Franklin said it was too early for Romney to panic about Perry, but his campaign needs to stay on its toes.

Romney has been polite but distant in talking about Perry. In New Hampshire, this week he termed the Texan "a very effective candidate ... maybe when the field narrows down to two or three we'll spend more time talking about each other."

"So far, the Romney strategy to not be reactive to the 'flavor of the week' is smart. But it's only in hindsight when we know if someone was a flash in the pan or not," said Franklin, a professor at the University of Wisconsin.

Indeed, the 2012 Romney campaign has been shaped by a different dynamic from the wide-open 2008 race: running against an incumbent with low approval ratings who has left many of his previous supporters disappointed.

His strategists believe voters will respond positively to Romney's business pedigree as the polar opposite of Obama.

As the leading moderate among Republican contenders, Romney also might hope that his opponents simply beat each other up.

"My sense is that Romney's strategy is based on the assumption that Bachmann, Perry and others, even Rick Santorum, will fight it out among themselves," said Donna Robinson Divine, professor of government at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.

"Then, Romney will be able to claim that he is focusing on the real issue -- capturing the White House. It has been a sound strategy. Whether he has to change it at this point is unclear."

Divine said the danger is that Romney's campaign could lose control of the message; this week's pro-Perry opinion polls could be the start of such a trend.

The Gallup survey had Perry with 29 percent support among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents. Romney was at 17 percent, down 6 points from a month ago, with Texas Congressman Ron Paul at 13 percent and Bachmann at 10 percent.

"The polls create a certain narrative that could force Romney to change tactics," said Divine.

As voting in the 2012 primaries draws closer, Romney's campaign might need to acknowledge a shift in the electorate with a sharper tone, said Ball.

In polling, Romney does better among independent leaning Republicans and moderates, but they don't typically vote in big numbers in primaries," she said.

Even compared with 2008, Republican voters are more conservative, largely because of the emergence of the Tea Party that was so influential in the 2010 mid-term elections and in the recent fractious debate over raising the U.S. debt limit.

"I think Mitt Romney really has to do some soul searching about what the Republican party is. at this point in time," Ball said. "The Republicans are looking for someone to get aggressive in attacking Obama."

Ultimately, though, strategists think Romney, who has a large campaign funding warchest, will be ready for hand-to-hand combat if he needs to.

"I suspect if he sees Perry approaching some kind of tipping point, Romney will engage him," said Divine.

(Additional reporting by Jason McLure; editing by Christopher Wilson)

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Romney sticks with strategy despite Perry's surge (AP)

DOVER, N.H. – Despite a new rival's surge, Mitt Romney is campaigning as though he's still the GOP presidential front-runner, focusing his criticisms on President Barack Obama, taking few risks and keeping most proposals vague enough to leave ample maneuvering room.

That may change soon, however, as events shift the contest to a higher gear. September will bring several GOP debates that will include Texas Gov. Rick Perry for the first time, as well as renewed attention to the question of how to create desperately needed jobs.

The former Massachusetts governor may be pushed out of his comfort zone even sooner if Perry's fast rise seems real and lasting.

For months, Romney has largely floated above the sparring. He let Michele Bachmann knock her fellow Minnesotan Tim Pawlenty out of the race in Iowa, for instance, and refused to be drawn into tit-for-tat exchanges over policy details. Perry, the sudden favorite among Republicans according to a Gallup poll, may force Romney to turn his focus away from Obama and sharpen his differences with fellow Republicans.

This week, however, Romney stuck to an easygoing, business-as-usual air as he campaigned in New Hampshire, which will hold the first primary in about five months. He took a cautious stand on climate change, downplayed GOP differences on jobs policies, and shrugged off suggestions that Perry may have overtaken him.

"If you're running for president, your focus should be on the person who is president and his failures, and how you're going to make America better," Romney told reporters in Claremont.

About the only thing he changed this week, he said with a laugh, was his shirt.

He cut short a question about the Gallup poll. There are many polls, Romney said, although he conceded, "Rick is a very effective candidate."

Romney still enjoys a big lead in fundraising and organization over Perry and the others. For now, he seems eager to blunt rather than highlight his differences with them, a classic front-runner's strategy.

At a packed forum in Keene on Wednesday, Romney noted that he and all the other contenders have vowed to reject a deficit-reduction package if it contains even $1 in new tax revenues for every $10 in spending cuts. Obama called that pledge irresponsible pandering.

"We all have said taxes are off the table," Romney said. He later told reporters they should not be surprised if his job proposals hardly differ from his rivals', because Republicans share many values on that issue.

Romney repeatedly called for a balanced federal budget, but like many other politicians he offered few details on how to achieve it. He embraced House Republicans' demands for unspecified cuts in discretionary domestic spending.

When a man in Keene asked what sacrifices Americans should make, Romney offered a largely pain-free roster.

Americans should "work hard" and create new businesses, he said, but they need not "give more money to government." Young people should study harder and "demand more from teachers," he said, and learn that esteem comes from "living with integrity and getting married before they have kids."

"The sacrifice I look for is for Americans to reach for excellence and greatness," Romney said to applause.

Romney often asked voters to trust him to make good decisions as president, with details to come as events unfold.

"I'll find the right approach" to ending sanctuary cities if legally possible, he said. Sanctuary cities take a hands-off approach to pursuing illegal immigrants, and Romney said he opposed them as governor.

On Thursday in Exeter, Romney said he would look "at the widest array of options" to shore up the long-term fiscal health of Medicare and Social Security. At other stops he said the retirement age for eligibility possibly could be raised over time.

Asked what he would do as president if he had a GOP-controlled Congress, Romney immediately veered to unrelated praise of right-to-work states, which ban mandatory union participation.

He took a noncommittal stand on climate change at a forum Thursday in Dover. Humans probably contribute to global warming, he said, but "I don't know by how much."

"Could be a little, could be a lot," Romney said. He noted he's not a scientist and said he didn't want to spend trillions of dollars on carbon-reduction programs for something not fully understood.

Some voters asked Romney about health care, reminding him of his successful push for mandatory health insurance coverage in Massachusetts. At every stop he said he would overturn "Obamacare," a sure-fire applause line. But he skated over similarities between the president's health delivery overhaul and his own push in Massachusetts several years ago.

Romney said the state law was needed because some people took advantage of a system that let them get free treatment in emergency rooms without buying insurance. That's also an argument Obama made for requiring health coverage nationwide.

The Massachusetts law isn't perfect, Romney said, and voters can overturn it by referendum if they like. The Obama-backed law, he said, reaches far more deeply into health affairs for all Americans, and would reduce Medicare spending.

In Dover, Romney said he hopes Obama or the State Department warned Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi months ago that the United States would "come after you in a major way" if Gadhafi attacked his own people. Last month, Romney criticized Obama for saying Gadhafi should be removed from power. Romney told reporters Thursday that the U.S. could have attacked the Libyan dictator "in a major way" without necessarily removing him from power.

Many New Hampshire voters seemed satisfied with his proposals and answers.

"I thought he did a fantastic job," said Greg Ford, 35, an orthopedic surgery resident who attended a forum in Lebanon. Romney offers practical solutions to health and financial issues, Ford said, adding, "I'm a 100 percent supporter of eliminating Obamacare."

The crowds were almost always friendly, although Romney grew testy when a woman in Lebanon pressed him to acknowledge that many Americans depend on government programs Republicans want to cut. In four events in two days, the only question he got about his plans to greatly expand his Southern California house came from a reporter. Romney, a multimillionaire, said he wants room for his 16 grandchildren.

The press corps turned to other matters.

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