Obama senior advisor David Plouffe ripped the Romney campaign Sunday for criticizing President Obama's foreign policy -- in a German newspaper.
There's a longstanding tradition that politics "stops at the water's edge," when it comes to U.S. foreign policy, but Plouffe said Sunday that Romney stepped over that line with the publication last week of a column that criticized the administration's approach to the Euro crisis.
"It was remarkable," Plouffe said on ABC's This Week. "It was a remarkable thing to see and really unprecedented...
"Europe doing the right things here to stabilize their situation is important to our small businesses, our workers, the middle class here, and overall economy," Plouffe said. "And to inject yourself in this for some short-sighted partisan gain, perhaps, is really unbelievable."
For his part, Romney said on Face the Nation that he wished Obama "would have taken action to rebuild the basis of our economy, its foundation, get it on such a strong footing that the challenges in Europe, if they occur, wouldn't have a significant impact as they might otherwise."
The Romney piece by senior economic adviser Glenn Hubbard, ran in Handelsblatt, a German business newspaper. It took the administration to task for what Hubbard called an "unwise" strategy that showed "ignorance of the causes of the crisis and of a growth trend in the future."
The administration -- which has increasingly cited Europe as a drag on the U.S. economy -- has encouraged European leaders -- German chancellor Angela Merkel in particular, to embrace some growth measures along with the austerity programs it has implemented.
Obama arrives in Mexico tonight for two days of talks at the Group of 20 meeting, which is likely to be dominated by talk of the Eurozone crisis.
I guess when you pay for expert testimony, you get the expert to say whatever you want.
Surely Glennn Hubbard knows that what he is saying is plain nonsense.
However, if nonsense is what they pay you for, then I guess nonsense is what you will deliver. I guess his reputation as an "expert" isn't worth much to him. Romney must be paying him a lot.
Posted by: Steve13565 | June 18, 2012 at 09:36 AM
Of course Romney's team is way out of line. But it is ludicrous to say that Obama should "have taken action to rebuild the basis of our economy, its foundation, get it on such a strong footing that the challenges in Europe, if they occur, wouldn't have a significant impact as they might otherwise." Where is the criticism of congressional Republicans for mindlessly and repeatedly blocking Obama's attempts to do just that?
Posted by: Roger Green | June 18, 2012 at 09:27 AM
What a political goon Pouffe is ! Obama crossed the line when he blamed all his failures on the crisis in Europe. Then he blamed STUXNET problems on Israel and went off to kiss the Saudi King's ring.
Obama plays the foreign card whenever it is politically convenient for him. His administration is corrupt and a bunch of liars and they don't even recognize that there is a line they shouldn't step over.
Pouffe is nothing but a cheap political hack and it is a shame that the news media spreads the administration's propaganda. Send this jerk and his boss packing in November.
Posted by: Politicalrealitycheck | June 18, 2012 at 08:33 AM
What is it about this guy, romney, that knows nothing and continually steps in it on foreign policy!
To jeopardize foreign relations for a soundbite shows no consideration for the Nation or its people!
Vacuous and cowardly!
Posted by: jlt | June 18, 2012 at 07:47 AM