Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney hit back Monday against President Barack Obama's campaign's charge that he might not have ordered the raid to kill Osama Bin Laden as president.
"Of course," Romney told reporters after speaking in Portsmouth, N.H. "Even Jimmy Carter would have given that order."
Like Obama, Carter also made a decision to order a daring raid, but in his case it ended quite differently. A 1980 attempt to rescue American hostages held at the U.S. Embassy in Iran resulted in catastrophic failure and the deaths of eight American servicemen.
The Obama campaign released a video Friday narrated by former President Bill Clinton suggesting that Romney would not have given the go-ahead for the May 2011 raid. Clinton also touts Obama's decisiveness in the video, citing the risks involved in the move. Campaign adviser Robert Gibbs continued to raise questions Sunday over whether Romney would have made the call, saying, " I don’t think it’s clear that he would."
The Bin Laden raid has become a central part of the Obama campaign's case for his re-election. The strategy has led to questions as to whether the president is politicizing the raid.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) slammed the Obama video Friday, saying, "Shame on Barack Obama for diminishing the memory of September 11th and the killing of Osama bin Laden by turning it into a cheap political attack ad."