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By Erin McPike - April 17, 2012

Since launching his bid for the White House last year, Mitt Romney has taken a far more passive approach to combating President Obama on foreign policy than he has to contrasting their economic approaches.

In his speeches, the GOP's all-but-certain standard-bearer regularly berates the president for the state of the economy. His campaign follows suit with daily documents, videos and press calls dinging the White House over unemployment. Team Romney frequently criticizes the administration for rising energy prices and for tax policies.

But when it comes to foreign policy, the tack has been more reactive and piecemeal.

When international incidents occur -- such as North Korea’s failed rocket launch on Friday...