Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney visited the Shenandoah Valley Monday morning for the second time in less than a week. He spoke to cadets at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, slamming the president on foreign policy issues.
The Romney campaign is going on the offensive, using the momentum gained after last week's debate to attack the president on defense and foreign policy.
Before a crowd of cadets at VMI, Romney took on the president's foreign policy record. He accused the White House of "leading from behind," and criticized it for a lack of assertiveness internationally.
He said President Obama had failed to take an aggressive approach on Iran's burgeoning nuclear program, and had neglected the U.S.'s relationship with Israel.
Romney said, "I know the president hopes for a safer, freer, and a more prosperous Middle East allied with the United States. I share this hope, but hope is not a strategy. We cannot support our friends and defeat our enemies in the Middle East when our words are not backed up by deeds.
But democrats are firing back, saying Romney has, quote, "failed the commander in chief test."
Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said, "I think it is really full of platitudes. You know, peace through strength, clarity, resolve - those aren't really foreign policy."
In response, the Obama campaign rolled out a new ad in Virginia Monday, calling Romney "reckless" and "amateurish" in the face of international crises, like the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Libya that killed four Americans.
