Mitt Romney: Leader of the Presidential Race

Republicans do not want to impose democracy as under Bush.

In the United States, debates among the Republican candidates for president have begun. There is a shift from supporting the U.S.’s aggressive intervention into world affairs to a new isolationism.

Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Tim Pawlenty, Herman Cain and Ron Paul participated in the debates, organized by CNN in New Hampshire. They will fight for the nomination of their candidacies from the Republican Party in the November 2012 elections. The candidate from the Democratic Party, so to say, is determined. This is current president Barack Obama, who has already announced his nomination for a second term. He was the main topic of the debates, during which the participants didn’t argue so much with each other, but rather criticized the politics of current U.S. administration.

Michele Bachmann, a member of the House of Representatives and the Select Committee on Intelligence, said about U.S. participation in military operation in Libya: “This decision was a mistake. We were not threatened by the attack.”

Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, accused U.S. intelligence of inadequacy, saying that they had no idea how many Libyan insurgents actually belonged to al-Qaida. Gingrich also said that a constant factor in military operations decision-making is the “price tag,” which is the cost.

Ron Paul, member of the House of Representatives, as well as Jon Huntsman, former governor of Utah and then ambassador to China, who didn’t participate in the debates but intends to announce his candidacy, have spoken about the intolerable expenses of the current administration for military operations abroad. All the talk at the debates is about Afghanistan. President Obama is expected to make a decision in the near future about troops’ withdrawal from Afghanistan and about time frames.

Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, said at the debates: “It’s time to bring our troops home as soon as possible. Our troops should not fight a war of independence for others.”

According to U.S. media and polls, Romney is ahead of other Republican candidates of the future presidential race. Speaking in New Hampshire, he set himself up as an example for the current president, reminding that as a former governor he saved his state’s budget 19 times (as we know, Obama has not had his draft budget approved in the Congress).

Willard Mitt Romney was one of the candidates for U.S. president from the Republican Party in the 2008 elections; he came in second for the nomination in the party’s primary elections. He’s also known as the chairman of Winter Olympic Games Organizing Committee in Salt Lake City in 2002. Romney is 63, comes from a family of hereditary politicians and belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormons). Second among the Republican Party nominees is Sarah Palin, former governor of Alaska and former candidate for the vice-presidency in the 2008 elections. She didn’t participate in the debates and hasn’t yet announced her candidacy. Former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani is also considering his participation in the campaign.

Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann are favorites of the tea party, named after the “Boston Tea Party” of 1773, when American colonists destroyed the British cargos of tea, protesting against the actions of the British government. This ultraconservative mass movement of today’s America reminds one, in some ways, of the “moral majority” of the 1970-80s and anti-Roosevelt associations of the 1930-40s. Support from the tea party means a lot now among the candidates and in the Republican Congress, especially in accusations against Obama.

The triumph over Osama bin Laden is waning. Besides, an average American is wondering: “If the villain was killed, why do we still keep our guys in that hellhole and waste tons of money on wars around the world, money that we can make use of at home now more than ever?”

Typically, American “regionalists” in the public, as well as among politicians, do not recall military expenditures when advocating an American missile defense system in Europe. This is also rooted in the national psychology: protect from a threat not with “live power,” but machines deployed far from the shores. News from Washington: Republicans in the Senate will ask for explanations from the Obama administration regarding missile defense cooperation with Russia, as well as for Michael McFaul’s assignment as ambassador to Russia. The following request to the White House is made by John Kyl, a longtime opponent of U.S.-Russian agreements in the area of missile defense. Kyl and his party members are concerned about American military-strategic secrets and advantages staying out of the enemy’s hands.

*Editor’s Note: The quotations in this article, accurately translated, could not be verified.