Romney Wants Obama to Disclose Foreign Talks, but Wouldn't Do So With Israel
Mitt Romney's campaign says President Obama should release the transcripts of his meetings with foreign leaders to reveal his agenda, but the presumptive Republican nominee suggested today that not even he would do that if it would risk a public rift with Israel.
Romney said in an interview with the conservative commentator Mike Huckabee that as president, he would want to show the world that with Israel, there's "not a dime's worth of difference between us, at least in public."
Then he added, "and if we have some private disagreements, then we keep them private."
"I think the president's failure to do that with Israel has emboldened the Palestinians," Romney said.
Romney's comments were part of a critique he made on Obama's record with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which includes a few public spats, like the president calling for a return to the 1967 borders with Palestinians.
The front-runner's statement on what his own foreign policy would be as president doesn't appear to fit with what his campaign has asked Obama to do.
"The Obama campaign is playing politics, just as he's doing in his conduct of foreign policy," Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul wrote in March. "Obama should release the notes and transcripts of all his meetings with world leaders so the American people can be satisfied that he's not promising to sell out the country's interests after the election is over."
Saul didn't immediately respond to an email asking to explain the difference.