Romney backs Clinton in spat with Obama

M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain News

Published July 27, 2007 at midnight

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MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton got an unlikely ally Thursday morning in her ongoing conflict with Sen. Barack Obama over a question of diplomacy that emerged during the CNN/YouTube debate earlier this week.

"She's right on that. He happens to be wrong," former Massachusetts Republican Gov. Mitt Romney said of Clinton and Obama following his appearance here at a crowded, downtown restaurant.

Romney's morning speech was filled with criticism of various Democrats, including Clinton. But he saved his harshest words for Obama over his debate answer saying that, as president, he would agree to meet with the leaders of such American adversaries as Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria and Venezuela during his first year in the White House.

Clinton pounced on that response, calling it "irresponsible and frankly naive" to make such a commitment, saying there's a danger of the president of the U.S. being used for "propaganda."

Obama reportedly has called it a "fabricated controversy."

"The notion that somehow not talking to countries is punishment to them - which has been the guiding diplomatic principle of this administration - is ridiculous," Obama said, according to CNN.

The Obama-Clinton rift intensified on Thursday. Obama said in a speech, "I don't want a continuation of Bush- Cheney. I don't want 'Bush-Cheney lite' " - an apparent reference to Clinton. She responded in a CNN interview, saying: "I've been called a lot of things in my life. Bush-Cheney has never been one of them."

But Romney told reporters this morning that he sides with Clinton on this particular question. He said there should be some contact with adversarial nations, but that it would be wrong to "bestow the dignity of that office" on leaders like Kim Jong Il of North Korea, Fidel Castro of -Cuba, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela or Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Romney said Obama's statement is "outrageous, and suggests an agenda that is not in keeping with an agenda focused on building friendships with our allies, creating understanding with other nations. It's a wrong course and he should recognize it and change direction - or simply be rejected."

"Does that mean we don't have any communications with those countries? Of course not," Romney said. "But a presidential contact is as ill conceived as having (House Speaker Nancy) Pelosi go to Syria. That was ill conceived, but having a president meet with the authoritarian tyrants of the world is a remarkably poor judgment conclusion."

Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor fired back at Romney this afternoon.

"Unlike Governor Romney and others, Senator Obama had the judgment to oppose the war in Iraq before it started," Vietor said. "Our next President can't keep showing bad judgment by continuing the Bush-Cheney style of foreign policy and stubbornly refusing to talk to countries we don't agree with."

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