Obama defends handling of Mideast crises

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama, defending his foreign policy record at a time of anti-American rage in the Muslim world, fired back Sunday at suggestions by Republican Mitt Romney that the president has been weak with allies and enemies alike.

In an interview airing the night before Obama meets with other world leaders at the United Nations, the president said, "If Governor Romney is suggesting that we should start another war, he should say so." It was Obama's most direct rebuttal yet to persistent skepticism by his White House rival on his handling of an unraveling situation in the Middle East.

Romney has charged the U.S. stance has been marred by miscalculations, mixed messages and appeasement.

As far back as May, Romney was condemning Obama's response to unrest in Syria, dubbing it a "policy of paralysis" and calling for more assertive measures, such as arming the opposition to Syrian President Bashar Assad. As deadly anti-American protests erupted earlier this month in Libya and elsewhere, Romney sought to undercut what polling shows is a significant foreign policy edge for Obama by calling the president's handling of the situation "disgraceful" and decrying a lack of U.S. leadership in the region.

In a companion interview to Obama's appearance on CBS' "60 Minutes," Romney broadened his reproach to include Israel, criticizing Obama's failure to meet with President Benjamin Netanyahu, during the annual UN gathering. Romney called it a mistake that "sends a message throughout the Middle East that somehow we distance ourselves from our friends."

The White House has said scheduling precluded a meeting between the two leaders. With the final six weeks of a hard-fought election hanging over the UN summit, Obama has opted out of face-to-face meetings with any of his counterparts during his compressed UN visit.

But Obama pushed back on the notion that he feels pressure from Netanyahu, dismissing as noise the Israeli leader's calls for the United States to lay out a "red line" that Iran's nuclear program mustn't cross to avoid American military intervention.

"When it comes to our national security decisions, any pressure that I feel is simply to do what's right for the American people," Obama said. "And I am going to block out any noise that's out there."

In an interview conducted the day after U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens was killed in an attack on Benghazi, Obama defended his foreign policy successes, noting he'd followed through on a commitment to end the war in Iraq and had nabbed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

He also waxed optimistic that winning a second term would give him a mandate to overcome obstructionism from congressional Republicans whose No. 1 goal, he said, has been to prevent his re-election. "I'm hoping that after the smoke clears and the election season's over that that spirit of cooperation comes more to the fore," Obama said.