‘Obama prefers show business over business of foreign policy’

U.S. President Barack Obama was the target of criticism this week after he refused to meet with any world leaders during his visit to New York for the U.N. General Assembly, but found the time to be interviewed with his wife on American talk show, „The View.”

The critics pointed out that compared to last year, when Obama held 13 meetings with world leaders on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, this year he seemed to prefer election concerns over U.S. foreign policy.

„As world leaders gather at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, President Obama and the first lady gathered with the women of the daytime talk show, ‘The View,’ sadly choosing show business over the business of foreign relations,” Republican strategist Alice Stewart wrote in an article published on FoxNews.com on Monday.
„Leadership is about priorities, what does this say about the priorities of our president?”

White House spokesman Jay Carney dismissed the criticism, arguing at a press briefing on Monday that Obama’s decision not to hold any one-on-one meetings with world leaders is inconsequential as the president has talked on the phone at length with leaders.

„The president has had extensive conversations with leaders in the region where there has been unrest of late, he will continue to have those conversations,” he said. „He will see leaders from a variety of regions tonight at a reception in New York as part of the General Assembly and will deliver very important remarks tomorrow.”

Meanwhile, a short time before Obama delivered his speech to the General Assembly on Tuesday, his rival, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney introduced his foreign policy platform, containing no small amount of criticism against the current administration.

„Today, we face a world with unprecedented challenges and complexities,” Romney said at the annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative in New York, a forum gathering world leaders to discuss solutions for global issues. We should not forget — and cannot forget — that not far from here, a voice of unspeakable evil and hatred has spoken out, threatening Israel and the civilized world.”

He continued, „A year from now, I hope to return to this meeting as president, having made substantial progress toward achieving the reforms I’ve outlined. But I also hope to remind the world of the goodness and the bigness of the American heart. I will never apologize for America.”

A day earlier, Romney made even sharper comments against the foreign policy of the Obama administration. In an interview with ABC, Romney said, „I can’t imagine saying something like the assassination of ambassadors is a bump in the road, when you look at the entire context, the assassination, the Muslim Brotherhood president being elected in Egypt, 20,000 people killed in Syria, Iran close to becoming a nuclear nation, that these are far from being bumps in the road.”

He added, „They represent events that are spinning out of the kind of influence we’d like to have. We’re at the mercy of events rather than shaping the events in the Middle East.”

Romney also took a slap at Obama’s handling of relations with Israel.

„The president doesn’t have time to actually spend time with leaders of these nations, particularly Bibi Netanyahu. I find that very troubling,” he said.

Meanwhile, Obama’s plane could not land in Ohio on Wednesday due to stormy weather. It managed to arrive only on the second attempt. The president was on his way to a campaign event.