WASHINGTON – The Internal Revenue Service official at the center of the storm over the agency’s targeting of conservative groups told Congress on Wednesday that she had done nothing wrong in the episode, and thenRENO, Nev. – Plunging back into divisive politics, President Obama on Monday declared he has kept the United States safe while suggesting that Mitt Romney has offered little to show he is ready to be commander in chief.
Mere days after a massacre in Colorado silenced the campaign in deference to the grieving, the bruising fight was on again.
“As we look ahead to the challenges that we face as a nation and the leadership that’s required, you don’t just have my words, you have my deeds,” Obama told the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He jabbed often at Romney without naming him.
With Obama and Romney both going after the military vote, the Democratic president sought to make the most of his signature national security policies, chiefly ending the unpopular war in Iraq, winding down the war in Afghanistan and the killing of al-Qaida terrorist leader Osama bin Laden.
He mocked Romney’s opposition to the 2014 timeline for ending the Afghan war, saying: “When you’re commander in chief, you owe the troops a plan.”
For at least one week, foreign policy moved near the front of the economy-oriented campaign, as presumptive Republican nominee Romney was heading to England, Israel and Poland to show some standing on the world stage. Obama’s address to the veterans group was intended, in part, to undercut that trip before it began by raising doubts about Romney’s readiness.
Romney was to address the VFW today, before leaving the country.
