Australian diplomats clarify foreign minister's comment to Romney
By MAGGIE HABERMAN |
7/23/12 12:41 PM EDT
From the Australian ambassador to the U.S. comes quite a news release seeking to clarify comments from foreign minister Bob Carr that Mitt Romney quoted at a fundraiser yesterday about America being "one budget deal away" from erasing talk of the U.S. in decline.
It was meant as "praise of America's economic strengths," officials said:
Australia’s ambassador to the United States, The Hon. Kim Beazley, AC, said: “He has identified the increasing energy competitiveness of the U.S.
and its continuing inventiveness reflected in the surge in Silicon Valley as a sound base for the next progression in the U.S. economy.
“The Foreign Minister’s remarks represent a considered assessment of the U.S. economy and an antidote to talk of U.S. declinism.”
What Senator Carr said follows:
"America is just one budget deal away from ending all talk of America being in decline."
Senator Carr's comment was in praise of American economic strengths.
Reports suggesting these were a criticism of the American economy are incorrect.
The comment repeats a published statement by Senator Carr at the CSIS Banyan Tree Leadership Forum in Washington D.C. on April 25, 2012:
"This notion that I've been thinking of for the last few days, and that is that America could be one budget deal away — in the context of economic recovery — one budget deal away from banishing the notion of American declinism.
Think about that: one budget deal, an exercise of statesmanship up the road in the context of an economic bounceback.
And all of a sudden, with energy independence crystallising, with technological innovation, resurgence of American manufacturing,[and] people who spoke about American decline could be revising their thesis."
This will be greeted by skeptics of the Obama administration with a raised eyebrow — and by its supporters as a reminder that Romney's upcoming foreign trip could be defined by even the briefest of statements.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/burns-haberman/2012/07/australian-diplomats-clarify-foreign-ministers-comment-129799.html
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