To GOP ‘appeasement’ charge, Obama says: ‘Ask Osama bin Laden’

President Obama had a quick, blunt response Thursday to Republican charges that he’s engaged in a foreign policy of “appeasement.” (see video below)

“Ask Osama bin Laden,” he told reporters at the White House on Thursday.

Appeasement was the word of the day Wednesday as six Republican presidential candidates spoke at a forum hosted by the Republican Jewish Coalition in Washington.

It was most often used with regard to Iran, although some said it applied to Obama’s broader foreign policy.

“The president, for every thug and hooligan, for every radical Islamist, has had nothing but appeasement,” former Sen. Rick Santorum said.

“The Obama administration has confused engagement with appeasement,” Rep. Michele Bachmann said.

“President Obama has adopted an appeasement strategy,” Mitt Romney charged.

Newt Gingrich said it was the State Department that “has consistently engaged in appeasement.”

Obama dismissed the general characterization by referring to the campaign against Al Qaeda.

“Ask Osama bin Laden and the 22 out of 30 top Al Qaeda leaders who’ve been taken off the field whether I engage in appeasement -- or whoever’s left out there, ask them about that.”