and what i think is critically important, after the revolution after the sort we witnessed and facilitateed in lib y things evolve. and the president used the phrase, there will be bumps in the road. the arc of any evolution is that it evolves over time. diplomacy could be a problem when it is so needed. >> there is a strategy, turning the opposition that overthrew gadhafi into a functioning government and help that government blow a popular support--grow a popular support. that will take time. there is a strategy, but where romney gets it wrong is that that strategy will depend most significantly on what happens inside these countries. it's not about imposing a solution from the outside. >> eliot: i think for purposes of his campaign he wants to overstate and estimate the capacity to impose a government, and that speaks to his bellicose language in many contexts. there was obviously to put it mildly, an evolution in the characterization of the attack from early on to what we played a few moments ago. there seemed to be a flat-footed response. why not keep quiet early on when there is ambig