Obama Strong In International Relations

@ Politico.com

Obama’s showing confidence abroad

The trip to South Korea was built around nuclear security and forward-looking meetings.

Despite the powerful messages of Obama calling for Korean reunification or of the successful cleanup of a former nuclear test site in Kazakhstan, it’s that hot microphone moment that has received more attention from anything he did on the four-day trip: talking to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday, Obama asked for “space” from Russia ahead of the November elections and a promise he would have flexibility afterward in striking deals on a range of issues, including missile defense.

Matching up with an incumbent who has years as commander in chief under his belt is always tricky. And for Mitt Romney, a former governor who’s widely seen as weak on foreign policy issues, that’s especially true.

But Romney has tried to undercut Obama on international issues, attacking the president’s decisions on the war in Afghanistan and his stance on Israel. On the Medvedev incident, Romney quickly waded in, saying in an interview with CNN that there’s something terribly wrong with Obama’s statements. “This is a president who is telling us one thing and doing something else and is planning on doing something even more frightening.” In another interview, Romney suggested that Obama had dealt himself a fatal blow, adding, “I don’t think he can recover from it.”