Romney has now begun praising Obama
On March 7th, 1987, while working for the “Entertainment Tonight” TV show, I was sent to Las Vegas to cover the world heavyweight championship fight between “Iron” Mike Tyson and James “Bonecrusher” Smith.
As it turned out, Tyson didn’t get a chance to use his “Iron,” and Smith wasn’t exactly a “Bonecrusher.”
As I was leaving the arena that night, I was approached by the legendary comedian Milton Berle, who made it a point to tell me, “This was the worst (expletive) fight I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Mr. Berle was on to something. It had been a bad fight. Smith held Tyson for most of the 12 rounds, so that Tyson couldn’t get more than a few punches in. No matter how Tyson tried to free his enormous arms, Smith would hold on and make sure Tyson couldn’t unload. It’s like Smith was saying, “Wherever you go, I’ll go with you. I’ll smother you; I’ll slow dance with you; and I’ll leave here fully conscious — if not the champ.” Tyson won by a unanimous decision.
The final of three presidential debates reminded me of that fight.
Far from the “Thrilla in Manila,” Mitt Romney’s strategy made it more like the “Joke-a in Boca.” Romney’s repeated efforts to agree with Obama’s foreign policy made him resemble another Smith — Snuffy. Wherever Obama went (from a foreign policy perspective), Romney was sure to follow. When Obama talked about the crippling sanctions his administration has helped force on Iran, Romney claimed “they do work. You’re seeing it right now in the economy. It’s absolutely the right thing to do, to have crippling sanctions.”
Back in February, though, Romney had a completely different assessment: “nothing in my view is as serious a failure as [President Obama’s] failure to deal with Iran appropriately.”
Right after the debate’s opening bell, it was Romney, not Obama, who brought up the killing of Osama bin Laden. “I congratulate him on taking out Osama bin Laden and going after the leadership in al-Qaeda,” Romney exclaimed.
But he wasn’t singing that tune back in 2007, when he chided presidential candidate Obama for suggesting he’d even send troops into Pakistan (something we all know he did do) to bring about bin Laden’s demise. “I do not concur in the words of Barack Obama in a plan to enter an ally of ours [Pakistan]” to get bin Laden,” Romney said.
He went even further. He bluntly attacked the future president by characterizing Obama’s stated goal of getting bin Laden as “ill-timed” and “ill-considered.” No wonder Romney took the easy way out during Obama vs. Romney III.
He went into the debate with no real prescription about how to handle the country’s role in foreign affairs. He simply got Obama into a 90-minute clinch. At one point I thought Romney would ask Obama for a dance.
Romney seemed to be saying, “If I agree with him, I won’t be making any ‘I can see Russia from my house’ — something Sarah Palin never said, by the way — kinds of gaffes.”
Obama’s debate victory can be attributed to Romney acting like Obama’s hand-puppet. But worse, Romney walked himself into a gaffe.
According to Romney, Syria is Iran’s lone ally in the Arab world. That may be true, but here comes Romney’s lack of foreign policy inexperience under the glare of the facts. “It’s their (Iran’s) route to the sea,” Romney advanced with a kind of Palinesque understanding of the world map. First, Syria isn’t really next door to Iran. Iraq is between those two countries. It would be like blustering in a debate about how Mexico provides a navigable “route to the sea” for Canada. That would be a mighty arduous trip, because of that other country — The United States.
The geography, like most of Romney’s math, doesn’t add up. And second, Iran doesn’t need to depend on Syria for a “route to the sea.” It’s bracketed by the Caspian Sea to the North and the Persian Gulf on the West. Romney, most likely, can see Iran from one of his houses.
Edward A. Owens is a three-time Emmy Award winner and 20-year veteran of television news. Email him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net