That's fine in theory. But Romney's initial response was about the Cairo embassy's deep bow to the rioters who had run amok outside our Cairo embassy and the Benghazi consulate. It only became clear rather later that we lost 4 Americans in Benghazi in a deliberate jihadi attack rather than a protest gone bad.
And given that President Obama continued his campaign schedule without making this seem like a foreign policy concern for the entire nation, how was Romney supposed to assume that anything was more amiss than the usual "smart" Obama administration foreign policy?
I'm not looking for the president to lash out at governments or Moslems. Moslem governments for the most part seem willing to defend our embassies, as is their responsibility.
And I don't blame all Moslems for the actions of Islamists and terrorists. We need to cultivate friends where we can in the Moslem world and focus on those governments, groups, and people who wage war on us. I called for this approach 11 years ago, even before the dust settled at Ground Zero in New York City:
We must instead reward those who help us in proportion to their aid; and act against those who thwart us, perhaps with only economic penalties, in proportion to their opposition. We will of course remember those who help us fully; but we must accept lesser help with gratitude if it is all that can be offered. We will of course remember those who oppose us, but we must not apply overwhelming military force against any degree of resistance. Only those who brazenly and actively fight us should be taken down by our full might. This approach will add to our strength and allow us to destroy the hard core of enemies who will not bend to reason, guilt, or fear. By taking such measured actions we will isolate the battlefield and keep the war from spinning out of control.
As we work the problems and seek out our enemies, let us at least not again descend into stupid "why do they hate us?" self-flagellation. The fact that they hate us is their problem and not our issue. Rather ask, "why don't they fear us?"
On the bright side, maybe now our president will take this war personally and will act like a war president.
Kill the jihadis. Isolate the Islamists. Support the moderates who would reform Islam. Work with Moslem leaders to thwart Islamists. Work to make the hopes of the Arab Spring a reality by entrenching regular and free elections.
The Arab Spring never actually took hold in Egypt, remember. Getting the Arab people the right to vote for their leaders was only the first step. We must work to make sure rule of law holds firmly enough to allow future voters to make sober reflections about their policies and who rules in their name. Some will work out well for us. Some won't. But the pre-Spring Arab world was hardly anything but a disaster waiting to break out somewhere.
Oh, and never feel guilty about our freedom or prosperity.
