Mitt Romney Hits Obama Over U.S.-Israel Relationship After Nicolas Sarkozy Hot-Mic Moment

President Barack Obama's hot-mic moment with French President Nicolas Sarkozy was more embarrassing for the latter than the former, with the French president calling Benjamin Netanyahu a "liar" and Obama only complaining about his daily dealings with the man.

Sarkozy did not realize his microphone was on Thursday at the G-20 summit in Cannes, France. "I cannot stand him," Sarkozy was reported as saying about Netanyahu. "He is a liar." Obama responded, "You're fed up with him, but I have to deal with him every day!"

But the problems it posed for Obama on the domestic policy front were immediately evident -- a president who has worked hard to curtail the perception that he was too critical of Israel had been caught being critical of its prime minister.

And, sure enough, on Wednesday, Mitt Romney took a swipe, accusing the president of being "disdainful of [the] U.S.-Israel Relationship."

"President Obama's derisive remarks about Israel's Prime Minister confirm what any observer would have gleaned from his public statements and actions toward our longstanding ally, Israel," Romney said.

"At a moment when the Jewish state is isolated and under threat, we cannot have an American president who is disdainful of our special relationship with Israel. We have here yet another reason why we need new leadership in the White House."

Comments

[crammedberry]

03:48 PM on 11/22/2011

This whole idea that somehow the US needs to be Israel's dog is ludicrous. Why do we need a tiny country to tell us what to do? Why do we fight wars for them, risk our own people and pay with american blood? We expose our country to attack because Israel can't deal with their neighbors. We have a massive debt built up because of this so called sacred US-Israel relationship. Let them learn diplomacy like every other country has to, instead of always threatening with force knowing the US will back them up like a good dog.

[KitchenCabinet]

10:45 PM on 11/10/2011

Question is, why does Obama have to deal with Netanyau every day? Becaise of AIPAC, the israel lobby. We really do need to have all lobbying out in public. We will not get democracy back until all dealings are in public and we citizens get to participate. But we need to demand transparency and keep demanding until we get full open disclosure of all lobbying. Vote at http://signon.org/sign/out-lobbyists and Tweet and Facebook it on. Let's have government of, for and by the people again. http://signon.org/sign/out-lobbyists

[bcarb]

09:16 AM on 11/11/2011

Think of how much money we would have if we did have to foot Isreal.

[joeconvex]

03:53 PM on 11/11/2011

AIPAC does only what hundreds of other PACs do - it presents their case to the US leadership. The rest is up to the members of Congress and the White House. Nobody is forced to do anything AIPAC want them to. I'm not a big fan of PACs, but, if I was going to ban any, I'd start with the pro-gun PACs.

The fact is that the US leadership and population overwhelmingly support Israel - the only mid-east country where Muslims can vote freely, oppose government policy without risking their lives, etc, etc.

Frankly, what is there to like about Hamas-ruled Gaza, the PLO-ruled West Bank, fascist-run Syria, Hezbollah-run Lebanon, and genocidal, mullah-ruled Iran?

[RGKahn]

08:27 PM on 11/10/2011

I have to jump in here. Prime Minister Netenyahu is NOT universally loved in Israel. He is a right wing extremist who is leading the country down a dangerous path. I went ther in 1979 to look into moving to Israel. What I found there was that right wing ultra-conservative Jews from the U.S were being recruited to set up settlements in the West Bank and Gaza to back up claims to these lands. The present PM was involved in these efforts. Just remember that not all Jews are leftist or even center leftist or socialists. Some are hard core right wingers. The religious party's hold the balance of power in Israel. It is these groups that back the settlements and the Prime Minister.

[bcarb]

09:19 AM on 11/11/2011

Good thing to remember, as it is not unlike our own country in many ways.

[smarteeeee]

09:31 AM on 11/10/2011

There is more evidence President Obama is a Muslim than there is that Herman Cain harassed any women, so why is it a surprise every time he unequivocally demonstrates he is not a friend of Israel?

[bcarb]

09:15 AM on 11/11/2011

But you get paid to make these comments.

[smarteeeee]

10:00 AM on 11/11/2011

Assume I do, does that make them untrue? And, to be perfectly clear, I could care less if President Obama is a Muslim. I can understand why he would want to hide it, if it is true, but all I care about regarding religion in my candidates is that he/she have it.

[Luuke]

10:27 AM on 11/13/2011

How original

[pjones006]

05:09 PM on 11/15/2011

He isn't a muslim but as we all know:

Conservatism = Ign0rance

[AdAbsurdum]

09:30 AM on 11/10/2011

Keep flinging, Romney. Keep hoping something sticks.

[Dan Same]

07:51 AM on 11/10/2011

I really don't think that Romney, or any other Republican, should lecture Obama regarding the ME.

BTW, if America has a 'special relationship' with another country, how can it also be isolated? I guess that doesn't say much for America's special relationships.

[bobbythompson3333]

07:42 AM on 11/10/2011

One Word: non-presidential

[BRAINS4USA]

09:10 AM on 11/10/2011

you mean human? wow - that would never fit with repubs, now would it

[clearasmud]

05:32 AM on 11/10/2011

Why doesn't Romney fly to Israel and just kiss their butts? Perhaps he and the rest of the GOPers can change their citizenship to Israeli since the love it so much.

[Josh Crawford]

05:12 AM on 11/10/2011

Here's the difference between Obama and most Republicans when it comes to Israel: Obama is willing to piss Israel off in order to advance the overall peace protest while most Republicans would never even consider doing anything to ruffle any Israeli feathers. Now, think about your "true" friends...aren't they the ones you COUNT ON to tell you what you NEED to hear, not just what you WANT to hear? At the end of the day, Republicans are Israeli "Yes" men (or, to put it more bluntly, butt kissers) while Obama is a "true" friend. True fact...Netanyahu said recently that they way Obama has acted toward Israel is a "badge of honor" (his exact words) that Obama should wear proudly...

[Mary Mendy]

05:10 AM on 11/10/2011

I personally think Obama is smarter than that, I think it was staged, given the amount of times a leader has been caiught off guard saying things they're not suppose to with an open mic, you'd think Obama would be a bit more wary. To get Netanyahu to lay off the "lets bomb Iran" campaign.

[TygerLilly]

06:43 AM on 11/10/2011

Of course you do.

[Mary Mendy]

07:11 AM on 11/10/2011

the President of the United States speaks to the Prime Minister of Israel every day. Is that normal? Does he speak to the leaders of France, Germany, UK, Russia, China, Japan, Italy, Brazil etc. everyday? If not, why is Israel (a country which is nowhere near as significant as those mentioned) so special. All that was being referenced in that conversation is that Israel is a close ally of the USA, and not of France. Obama might be frustrated with Netanyahu as well, he can't just tell him to go scr0w himself (like Merkel did), since US public opinion is almost unreservedly pro-Israel.To some extent he was joking here, but it's not exactly a secret there's no love lost between Obama and Netanyahu, either. Which is why I think its staged.

[BRAINS4USA]

09:12 AM on 11/10/2011

At least Mary still thinks...

[l78lancer]

04:22 AM on 11/10/2011

The whole thing is much ado about nothing. Voters who are not going to vote for Obama are not going to anyway - Jewish or otherwise. Likewise those who are going to vote for him were not moved one way or the other by the comment.

Jobs, Mitt, jobs...focus.

[MSELLIE]

07:01 AM on 11/10/2011

You wish! Voters that want to continue to have ANY chance in rebuilding America WILL VOTE FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA because the alternative is HORRIBLE!!!!!

[l78lancer]

08:21 PM on 11/10/2011

@MSELLIE - I actaully agree with your response, but I think you misread my post.

[l78lancer]

04:11 AM on 11/10/2011

" "President Obama's derisive remarks about Israel's Prime Minister confirm what any observer would have gleaned from his public statements and actions toward our longstanding ally, Israel," Romney said."

This is a nonissue from a nonstarter, Romney. Although we have not heard much from him to the contrary, I hope this is not representative or Romney's foreign policys and plans.

[l78lancer]

04:34 AM on 11/10/2011

...policies...

[padrushka]

04:02 AM on 11/10/2011

For a long while there have been leaders complaining about Netanyahu, nothing new here.

[Paul Baltodano]

03:28 AM on 11/10/2011

So republicans prop up Netanyahu as being a perfect president? Leaders of countries are not allowed to criticize one another?

Bush took it one step further by actually going to war with a country he was criticizing.....

[Ronju01]

02:07 AM on 11/10/2011

Those Republicans who use abusive words against Obama every single day, are anti-Americans, right?