Romney preparing to broaden challenge to Obama's foreign affairs management

Washington, Mar 30 (ANI): US Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney is reportedly preparing to broaden his challenge to President Barack Obama's management of foreign affairs.

With the nation facing a high unemployment rate and uncertain economic growth, foreign policy as a political issue has remained a very critical point of contest, especially for the Republican candidates who considered it to be Obama's weakest points.

Republicans seeking their party nomination have trained their sharpest criticism of Obama on his economic record, where they perceive him to be weakest points, The Washington Post reports.

The emergence of foreign policy in the campaign comes during a particularly difficult period in Afghanistan and at a time when fears are rising about Iran's nuclear program. Those concerns, and new ones about what Obama intends to do overseas if reelected, have elevated the issue in the race.

Advisers say Romney intends to deliver a major foreign policy address in April or May, depending on the status of the primary contest, and create what one adviser described as a series of "platforms" to highlight the differences between the two candidates.

"In the end, this president will lose because he failed on the economy - that's the referendum. But the same sort of naivete and fecklessness have been evident on the foreign policy side as well. And we welcome having that debate," the paper quoted Richard S. Williamson, a senior foreign policy adviser to the Romney campaign, as saying.

Advised primarily by veterans of the Reagan and both Bush administrations, Romney has reportedly been bolder in recent weeks in contrasting his foreign policy views with those of Obama. (ANI)