An open mic caught President Obama assuring Russian President Dmitri Medvedev at a nuclear summit in Seoul, South Korea today that he will have “more flexibility” to deal with issues such as missile defense after the presidential election and asked Medvedev to give him some “space” until the election is over.

On CNN this afternoon, Mitt Romney pounced on Obama’s statement. “This is a president who is telling us one thing and doing something else and is planning on doing something even more frightening,” the former Massachusetts governor said, calling the comments “very, very troubling” because Russia “is without question our number one geopolitical foe.” Host Wolf Blitzer followed up:

BLITZER: You think Russia is a bigger foe right now than say Iran or China or North Korea? Is that what you’re suggesting governor?

ROMNEY: Well I’m saying in terms of a geopolitical opponent, the nation that lines up with the world’s worst actors. Of course the greatest threat the world faces is a nuclear armed Iran and a nuclear North Korea is troubling enough. But when these terrible actors pursue their course in the world and we go to the UN looking for ways to stop them … and who is it that always stands up for the world’s worst actors, it is always Russia, typically with China alongside.

So in terms of a geopolitical foe a nation that is on the Security Council that has the heft of the Security Council and is of course a massive nuclear power, Russia is the geopolitical foe and the idea that our president is planning on doing something with them that he’s not willing to tell the American people before the election is something I find very, very alarming.

Watch the clip:

It’s unclear what Romney means by “geopolitical” foe in this context, as he did not cast any perceived Russian threat in a geographical sense.

Full transcript:

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A paranoid Rick Santorum campaign ad, “Obamaville,” briefly replaces a picture of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmedinejad with President Barack Obama’s face, as the narrator talks about a “sworn American enemy”:

VOICEOVER: Every day, the residents of this town must come to grips with reality that a rogue nation and sworn American enemy has become a nuclear threat.

Watch a ThinkProgress analysis of the “sworn American enemy” appearance of Obama in the “Obamaville” ad:

After this subliminal editing was noted by Politico, the Santorum campaign professed confusion about Obama’s appearance.

“Obviously I’m not trying to say anything about Obama and Ahmadinejad,” Rick Santorum spokesman Hogan Gidley said.

“The intent was to show that there will be a constant threat back and forth between the United States if they have nuclear capability,” John Brabender, the media consultant who made the video, claimed.

“Despite their sanctimonious protestations to the contrary,” liberal blogger Digby comments, “that quick cut in the ad that juxtaposes Ahmadinejad and Obama is a very creepy, underhanded trick.” She continued:

“The Republicans love to do this. (Recall the famous RATS ad.) But this one is especially low because it’s obviously aimed at the none-too-bright right wingers who believe that Obama is a Muslim usurper — which is just another racist dog-whistle with a little xenophobia and religious intolerance thrown in for good measure.”