Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton warned Florida delegates to the Republican National Convention on Thursday that if President Obama gets a second term, he will lessen Americas standing as a world power.
Diplomatically blunt, Bolton also cautioned that Obama wont stop Iran from continuing to fund terrorists and from gaining nuclear weapons, something he claimed Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney can do.
This is something that will change the balance of power in the Middle East and around the world forever, Bolton said. It is absolutely critical that we stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons. Thats not something Obama is going to do. It is something that Romney will do.
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, a former U.S. congressman, credited Bolton and former U.S. Secretary of state Condoleezza Rice as being pillars of foreign policy that are now missing from this (Obama) administration.
On Wednesday, Rice declared during her appearance at the Republican National Convention in Tampa that the voice of the United States has been muted under Obama, making the internationally scene to grow more chaotic and dangerous.
Bolton, addressing the Florida delegation to the Republican National Convention at Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club in Palm Harbor on Thursday, said the 2012 presidential election will set the tone for the nations international presence.
You can run down issues in the first term where hes given us an indication of how he is going to act and the jeopardy he will place America in, said Bolton, who served from August 2005 to December 2006 as U.N. ambassador under President George W. Bush.
Bolton objected to Obamas handling of Hugo Chavez Venezuela, the Arab Spring turning into the Muslin Brotherhood, and most glaringly Obama being overheard on a live mic in March telling outgoing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that This is my last election. After my election, I have more flexibility."
Based upon what hes seen, Bolton also predicted that President Obama would use a second term to lift the U.S. embargo on Castros Cuba. Bolton favors maintaining the embargo until the Castro regime falls, and then allowing Americans, dominated by Floridians, flooding into the resources of the island nation.
The president believes that it is Americas strength that is provocative; that us asserting our own interest is the reason theyre not kind to us.
And if only we were less assertive, less demanding, less pushy, you know less American, then somehow the world would be a better place.
That is exactly the opposite of the truth. Its not Americas strength that is provocative. Its Americas weakness that is provocative.
Bolton opened his address by reminded the delegates that in 2000 he spent 31 days in Florida, in West Palm Beach and Tallahassee, on the presidential recount.
I just want you all to assure me before I leave today that this time youre going to win by 40,000 or 50,000 votes, he said.
Reach Jim Turner at jturner@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 215-9889.
