Opposition leader Mitt Romney: Obama is going to learn that abject apologies are always welcomed by terrorists.

(Politico).Mitt Romney broadened his critique of President Obama in a speech to the NRA today, attacking him on familiar economic themes and broadening his national security attacks to embrace Vice President Dick Cheney's line that Obama is rolling back policies that kept America safe:

President Obama, however, is wrong to back away on missile defense. He was wrong to go on Arab TV and claim that America has dictated to other nations. America has sacrificed more than any other nation to free people from dictators. And of course, President Ahmadinejad of Iran seized upon that misstep by our President to call for an apology from America.I think the President is going to learn very quickly that abject apologies are always welcomed by thugs and terrorists.

But what they need to hear instead is a message of American confidence and American resolve . . .He’s released top secret memos about interrogations, but we’re still waiting for other top secret memos that tell us about the attacks prevented by those interrogations. The President has also promised to close down Guantanamo, without giving the slightest indication of the next stop for the killers being held there now.And for all of these decisions, he has received the predictable applause from the usual quarters.

But here’s the problem. That is the very kind of thinking that left America vulnerable to the attacks of September 11th. And the approval of left-wing law professors and editorial boards won’t be worth much if this country lets down its guard and suffers another attack.