DES MOINES, Iowa - Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich says he believes President Barack Obama is floundering in his handling of the air assaults in Libya.
Gingrich says the situation is "nonsense" and "a mess."
The Republican spoke Friday while taping an episode of Iowa Public Television's "Iowa Press" program to air this weekend. Gingrich also accused Obama of going to war without having a real consultation with Congress.
But Gingrich himself has wavered on Libya. Two weeks ago, he criticized Obama for not being more forceful in leading an international campaign to destroy Libyan leader Moammar Gaddhafi's air defenses and save rebels from defeat. ThinkProgress relays what Gingrich had to say at the time during an appearance on Fox News:
Exercise a no-fly zone this evening. ... We don't need to have the United Nations. All we have to say is that we think that slaughtering your own citizens is unacceptable and that we're intervening.
This past week Gingrich backtracked and articulated a different stance on the issue. He said he wouldn't have intervened if he'd been president.
The Georgia Republican told NBC's "Today" show on Wednesday morning he believes Obama painted the United States into a corner with his decision to authorize air strikes to establish a no-fly zone and dismantle Moammar Gaddhafi's air defenses. Gingrich suggested Obama is relying on a standard of "humanitarian intervention," a policy he said would have justified American military engagement in countries like Sudan, North Korea, Zimbabwe, Yemen and Bahrain.
HuffPost's Jason Linkins reported on the confusion that ensued following the apparent position-switch, and in a separate post wrote:
As Judd Legum at Think Progress notes: "In 2004, however, Gingrich repeatedly bashed then Democratic nominee for President John Kerry, saying his flip-flop on Iraq war funding disqualified him from being president."
The money quote, offered by Gingrich to Neil Cavuto on September 17, 2004, goes like this: "You can't flip-flop and be commander-in-chief."
Gingrich says he'll likely make a decision about a presidential bid in five weeks.