Obama in the Big Apple: Threatens Iran, Avoids 1-on-1 with Other Leaders, Appears on Talk Show

President Barack Obama will be addressing the UN General Assembly today in New York City. Advance excerpts of his speech seem geared to assuage Israeli concerns regarding the United States’ resolve to stand firm against the development of nuclear weapons in Iran.

“A nuclear-armed Iran is not a challenge that can be contained. It would threaten the elimination of Israel, the security of Gulf nations and the stability of the global economy … The United States will do what we must to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.”

This speech, although it does not directly mention Mitt Romney, appears to be a direct rebuttal to Obama’s adversary in the upcoming Presidential election.  Last night, during a campaign stop in Colorado Romney delivered a scathing opinion of Obama’s foreign affairs leadership abilities, mocking Obama’s description of recent events as “bumps in the road.”

“Bumps in the road?  We had an ambassador assassinated. We had a Muslim Brotherhood member elected to the presidency of Egypt. Twenty thousand people have been killed in Syria. We have tumult in Pakistan and, of course, Iran is that much closer to having the capacity to build a nuclear weapon … These are not bumps in the road, these are human lives. These are developments that we do not want to see.”

Despite Obama’s hardline speech, he is spending less than 24 hours in NYC and has declined meetings with other world leaders who are here for the UN General Assembly. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor criticized the absence of bilateral meetings at the United Nations, stating that it demonstrated an unwillingness to engage on issues that could become pitfalls for American diplomacy.

Despite Obama’s tight schedule that did not permit these meetings,  there was time for an appearance on “The View” – a daytime television talk show.