When Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney called Russia "our No. 1 geopolitical foe" in 2012, the Obama administration and liberal media members jumped on the remarks as "antiquated," "dumb," and proof positive of his "Cold War mind warp."
With the Russian occupation of Crimea, as well as the granting of asylum to NSA leaker Edward Snowden and antagonism with the U.S. over Syrian dictator and Russian ally Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons, Romney looks more prophetic every day. He said in the final debate he would not wear "rose-colored glasses when it comes to Russia or [Vladimir] Putin" if president.
But Democrats and the media insisted on making Romney's platform a punchline.
"The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back, because the Cold War's been over for 20 years," Obama quipped at the same debate.
Vice President Joe Biden slammed Romney's "Cold War" style thinking, and former, current and future Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright, Hillary Clinton and John Kerry also mocked Romney's foresight about Russia during the 2012 campaign.
Liberal columnist Cynthia Tucker called Romney's comment "dumb," and Huffington Post reporter Sam Stein referred to it as "antiquated." MSNBC host Chris Matthews pondered aloud what decade Romney was living in and whether he was trying to be Ronald Reagan, and fellow network personality Andrea Mitchell dismissed it as a "throwback to the Cold War."