Romney’s missteps on Libya may hurt criticism of Obama’s foreign policy

By Scott Wilson and Anne Gearan, WashPost, Updated: Wednesday, October 17, 12:28 PM

A series of missteps by Republican nominee Mitt Romney in criticizing President Obama’s account of the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, may make it harder for him to continue using the incident as the heart of his wider complaint about the incumbent’s foreign policy record.

Romney has seized on the coordinated attack, which killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, to back his contention that Obama has weakened the U.S. presence in the world and overseen an intentional diminution of American influence abroad.

In an election likely to be decided on economic issues, Romney’s move into foreign policy has stirred tensions within his campaign. But it has also put in play an issue — management of foreign policy — on which Obama once held a commanding lead.

The presidential debate Tuesday, however, again showed the perils that Romney faces in using the Libya attack to go after the president’s leadership abroad.

(More here.)