Romney Takes Jabs At Obama, Edwards
Republican Mitt Romney said Wednesday it's fortunate Democrat Barack Obama isn't president, contending the Illinois senator would have pulled U.S. troops out of Iraq and left the country a safe haven for al Qaeda.
Romney gave the response about Obama when challenged by a member of the audience who said President Bush illegally sent troops into Iraq and drew terrorists to the country. Romney told the man: "Don't forget that Congress authorized going into Iraq."
"They had as much information as they needed to make that authorization," he told a packed coffee house in this tiny southeastern Iowa town. "The president did a superb job in knocking down Saddam Hussein and replacing his military."
Romney acknowledged that the war has drawn extremists into Iraq. He then moved from answering the man's question about how he would resolve the situation in Iraq to focus criticism on Obama.
"The key for me is making sure we do not have Iraq develop into a safe haven of the nature Afghanistan was under the Taliban. If we were to do what Barack Obama had suggested, which is just pull out, now that al Qaeda is there, al Qaeda would have had a dominant role potentially among the Sunnis in particular, and that would have made Afghanistan look like child's play as a place to launch attacks against us," Romney said.
Earlier, he told the crowd that that the surge was working and that "It's fortunate we did not have Barack Obama as president. If he had been president, he'd have just pulled our troops out and al Qaeda would have been a safe haven in Iraq."
In response, Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said, "If Barack Obama were president, we would never have gone into Iraq in the first place. We would've gone after Osama bin Laden, finished the job in Afghanistan and made America a lot safer than it is after seven years of a divisive, failed foreign policy that Mitt Romney apparently wants to continue."
Randy Wehr, of Washington, who is opposed to the war, asked the question of Romney.
"I think his answer was a good canned answer. I think that is what they have to say at this point in time because we are involved in this war that is a very unpopular, and I think that the president and Cabinet and those people are 100 percent behind it for whatever reasons may be," he said, adding that he likes Romney, but hasn't decided yet whom to support. "We have to work our way out of this situation. There is no good way to get out of it."
On a separate topic, Romney was asked about Democrat John Edwards' plan to cancel Congress' health care coverage if members don't approve universal health care within six months. Romney said such a move wouldn't "engender the kind of working relationship you hope to have between the two branches of government."
"I must admit that the kind of heavy hand that he is talking about is not exactly what was deemed a separation of powers in our Constitution, and him locking doors, locking people's health insurance and so forth isn't the way to do it - if you don't get your way you are going to punish people," Romney said.
Answering the criticism during a conference call with reporters, Edwards said, "It's perfect example of the response you get when you actually take action and challenge what happens in Washington, which is exactly what I'll do as president."
Video: Romney also announced that he and his wife were awaiting an eleventh grandchild on Wednesday. His son Matt's wife, Laurie, was scheduled to undergo a Caesarean section, but the couple were waiting to see if the baby's lungs were fully developed, Romney said.
"We have an extra reason to care about this Thanksgiving," he said
Romney also joined workers in singing, "Over the River and Through the Woods."