Obama Camp Focuses Attacks on GOP's 'Presumed Nominee'
Top Democrats in President Barack Obama's administration appear to be focusing their attacks on Mitt Romney amid perceptions that the former Massachusetts governor is most likely to be the GOP nominee.
Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lambasted Romney Sunday.
"I think Gov. Romney's a little out of touch," Biden said in an interview on CBS' "Face the Nation." "I can't remember a presidential candidate in the recent past who seems not to understand, by what he says, what ordinary middle-class people are thinking about and are concerned about."
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Some believe that front-runner Romney's main rival, Rick Santorum, might have to retreat if he is unable to win in Wisconsin, one of three states to host Republican primaries Tuesday. Santorum was reportedly planning to leave Wisconsin the day before the primary, which was interpreted as a sign of his withdrawal.
"I think the chances are overwhelming that [Romney] will be our nominee," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday. "It seems to me we're in the final phases of wrapping up this nomination." The former Pennsylvania senator has won 27 percent of the delegates at stake, while Romney has won 54 percent of the delegates.
However, Santorum dismissed the notion that his chances are grim. He compared his run with the Saturday night's basketball game between Kansas and Ohio. Kansas was trailing by more than 10 points in the first half, but still managed to win in the second half. "Look, this race isn't even at halftime yet," Santorum said on "Fox News Sunday."
Meanwhile, Biden defended Obama on last week's conversation with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Seoul, South Korea, in which Obama said he would have "more flexibility" on the contentious issue of missile defense after the Nov. 6 general election, without realizing it was being caught by a microphone. Obama was "stating the obvious," Biden said.
Romney had called it "alarming," asking what else Obama would be flexible on if he happened to get re-elected and saying Russia was "our No. 1 geopolitical foe."
"Speaking of flexible, Gov. Romney's a pretty flexible guy on his positions," Biden said, alluding to allegations of "flip-flopping" against Romney. "He acts like he thinks the Cold War is still on, Russia is still our major adversary. I don't know where he has been … He just seems to be uninformed or stuck in a Cold War mentality. It exposes how little the governor knows about foreign policy."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also attacked Romney. She said Romney's comment was "dated." "I think it's somewhat dated to be looking backwards instead of being realistic about where we agree, where we don't agree," she told CNN Sunday.
Romney's campaign hit back. "Vice-President Biden appears to have forgotten the Russian government's opposition to crippling sanctions on Iran, its obstructionism on Syria and its own backsliding into authoritarianism," Lanhee Chen, Romney's policy director, said in a statement.
