President Obama is taking some heat for his speech on Middle Eastern policy, particularly the section on Israel, in which he advocated a return to Israel’s pre-1967 borders. “President Obama has thrown Israel under the bus,” Mitt Romney declared in a statement. “He has disrespected Israel and undermined its ability to negotiate peace.” Many of his fellow presidential contenders made similar statements, as did many congressional Republicans, the Christian Science Monitor reports.
There was also some discomfort about Obama’s promise for aid to Egypt and Tunisia, including forgiving $1 billion of Egyptian debt, which could be difficult politically given the current debt ceiling debate. “I don’t know where [the president] is going to get the funding—and I’m an appropriator,” said Dianne Feinstein. But others, including Lindsey Graham, backed the president. “Every 6,000 years you get an opportunity to create a democracy in Egypt,” Graham said. “You ought to take it.” (More Mitt Romney stories.)