Raising the stakes with his main rival in the crucial Iowa caucuses, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney accused Mike Huckabee yesterday of insulting President Bush and called on him to apologize for criticizing Bush's foreign policy as "arrogant."
Huckabee refused, saying he was not attacking the president personally but laying out a different vision for the US role in the world.
The exchange on national TV talk shows yesterday reflected the increasingly bitter battle between the former governors and one of the few instances in which Republican presidential hopefuls have been drawn into a confrontation over Bush's legacy. So far during the campaign, the candidates, wary of embracing a president with low approval ratings, have preferred to compare themselves to President Reagan, who remains unwaveringly popular with Republican voters.
But Huckabee's surge past Romney in the polls in Iowa, where Republicans will hold the first nomination contest on Jan. 3, has clearly shaken up the race. Romney, despite vastly outspending Huckabee, declared for the first time last week that he is now the underdog in Iowa, and yesterday he sounded like one as he blasted Huckabee for calling Bush's foreign policy arrogant and indicative of a "bunker mentality."
"That's an insult to the president, and Mike Huckabee should apologize to the president," Romney said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Within hours, Huckabee dismissed Romney's criticism.
"I don't have anything to apologize for," he said on CNN's "Late Edition." "I've got to show that I do have my own mind when it comes to how this country ought to lead, not only within its own borders but across the world."
Romney was seizing on an article Huckabee wrote for the January/February 2008 issue of "Foreign Affairs" magazine, in which the former Arkansas governor asserts that "American foreign policy needs to change its tone and attitude, open up, and reach out."
"The Bush administration's arrogant bunker mentality has been counterproductive at home and abroad," Huckabee wrote. "My administration will recognize that the United States' main fight today does not pit us against the world but pits the world against the terrorists."
Romney told crowds in Iowa on Saturday that Huckabee was talking like Democratic presidential candidates John Edwards and Barack Obama, not a loyal Republican.
Larry J. Sabato, a University of Virginia political scientist, said the Republican candidates will have to distance themselves from Bush in the general election but could face a backlash for criticizing him in their party's primary. Polls show that about 75 percent of Republican voters still view the president favorably, compared with about 30 percent of all voters.
"It's not risky at all to stand up for Bush as long as only Republicans are voting," Sabato said by phone yesterday. "When we get to the general election - or even primaries where independents can come in major ways - it could be riskier."
Romney has also at times criticized US policy in Iraq. On "Meet The Press" yesterday, host Tim Russert read aloud a quote from September in which Romney said that Iraq "is a mess."
"That's no reflection on George Bush?" Russert asked.
Romney said it was not the same as Huckabee's criticism, which the former Massachusetts governor said went over the line.
"I've been saying for months, and I think all the Republican candidates, in fact, have been saying for months, if not years, that, that following the collapse of Saddam Hussein our policy was, was unprepared, unplanned, understaffed, under-managed," Romney said. "But it's very different to point out the mistakes that have been made - and the president's pointed out the mistakes as well - and then to say that the Bush administration, our president, is arrogant with a bunker mentality."
Huckabee, who has been criticized for his relative inexperience in foreign affairs, said that while the United States should have "the strongest possible military on the face of the planet," it should also recognize "that we do better when we are partners with the entire world standing against the threat of Islamo-fascism than when we simply say that we're going to do it our way, and if you don't want to do it our way then we brand you as being with the other side."
He also challenged Romney's charges of disloyalty to Bush by contending that Romney, in the past, did not support the president on tax cuts, abortion, and gun control.
Romney sought to explain some of his past more moderate stances on those issues and others on "Meet the Press," which is a crucible of sorts for presidential hopefuls.
He was the last of the leading candidates in either party to be interviewed on the show.
Romney acknowledged that he has shifted positions on some issues after learning from experience and said that it would be a mistake for a candidate to stubbornly stick to a position.
"If you're looking for someone who's never changed any positions on any policies, then I'm not your guy," he said.
But Romney insisted that as governor he kept all of his campaign promises despite changing some views, and pledged that he would stick to his promises if elected president.
"Bottom line: All the positions you laid out today as a presidential candidate, can you assure the voters you won't flip back to some of the positions you had when you were governor of Massachusetts?" asked Russert.
Romney responded, "Of course."
Michael Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com.
