In a piece for the Wall Street Journal, the former presidential candidate whom more and more Americans are wishing had won the White House breaks down why Obama has failed time and time again:
A large part of the answer is our leader’s terrible timing. In virtually every foreign-affairs crisis we have faced these past five years, there was a point when America had good choices and good options. There was a juncture when America had the potential to influence events. But we failed to act at the propitious point; that moment having passed, we were left without acceptable options. Able leaders anticipate events, prepare for them, and act in time to shape them.
President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton traveled the world in pursuit of their promise to reset relations and to build friendships across the globe. Their failure has been painfully evident: It is hard to name even a single country that has more respect and admiration for America today than when President Obama took office, and now Russia is in Ukraine. Part of their failure, I submit, is due to their failure to act when action was possible, and needed.
Romney lists multiple cases – Ukraine, Syria, Egypt, Afghanistan – when Obama failed to act in a timely, decisive or authoritative manner. By the time he did make any decision, the U.S. had little to no leverage and had all but completely lost respect from key international players. As a result, America is now in an embarrassingly weak position to influence any future issues that arise.
Romney closes by saying that the only way that Obama will succeed in anything over the next two years will be if he tosses his current approach out the window and starts acting when it is actually advantageous to do so. Because, as we keep learning time and time again, Romney is right: Timing is everything.
