NASHUA — Republicans who gathered here this weekend to court party activists found a common target in President Obama's foreign policy, collectively arguing that missteps on five continents had sapped the United States of its strength around the world.
From Iran to Cuba to China, the field of 19 potential presidential candidates faulted Obama for strategies they said were feckless and detrimental to the American future.
"We need a commander-in-chief in this country who, once and for all, will identify that radical Islamic terrorism is a threat to us all," Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker said during Saturday's keynote speech on the second day of the First-in-the-Nation Republican Leadership Summit, which gave the country's first primary voters a chance to audition White House hopefuls in person.
The global focus represents a shift from the last couple of elections, when Republicans sought to impose a referendum on Obama's economic performance. In 2012, when the economy was worse and party activists were more hotly opposed to Obama's federal health care expansion, Republican critiques centered on domestic issues.
And, with many Republicans expecting to face former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2016, the thrust toward foreign policy permits them the twin targets of her and Obama.
"Look what's happening around the world. There are a lot of danger spots around the world," US Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire told the Globe on Saturday. "So I expect you'll hear that from many of the candidates."
Ayotte, who is not considering a 2016 run but is widely viewed as a potential vice presidential choice, dwelt on foreign policy for most of her own speech. She said others had done so "for good reason."
Each of the candidates who spoke fielded questions, many of which pivoted around foreign policy and national security. The Islamic State group, in particular, was mentioned by many audience members.
Several speakers pointed to Obama's decisions not to interfere earlier to stop the rise of the Islamic State group, to prod Iran to agree to a deal designed to slow that country's development of a nuclear weapon, and not to project greater global preeminence toward Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin has taken an expansionist tack, annexing Crimea and backing separatist rebels against the government in Ukraine, and has unnerved American allies in Europe.
"This is a president whose policies are weak, whose policies are apologetic, and in many ways incoherent," US Representative Peter King of New York said during a Friday address.
The weekend also laid bare fundamental divisions within the party over how interventionist the United States should be. While most of the speakers criticized Obama for what they said was a failure to flex US military strength sufficiently, a few — most notably Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky — sounded the more isolationist notes that have been gaining currency within the GOP.
"The other Republicans will criticize Obama or Hillary Clinton on foreign policy, but they would have done the same thing 10 times over," said Paul, who also criticized National Security Agency intelligence-gathering techniques that other speakers defended.
Paul, also speaking Saturday, jabbed at "a group of folks in our party who would have our troops in six countries right now."
Neither the chorus of withering assessments of Obama's job performance nor the intraparty schisms are novel among Republicans. But the weekend march of candidates across the Crowne Plaza hotel ballroom stage helped solidify the policy elements that will help define the 2016 race.
"We don't all agree," said King. "We have definite views."
By looping Clinton into the broadsides against Obama while all but ignoring other Democrats, Republicans also signaled how they will train fire on her.
"She's the architect of his foreign policy," said US Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
At a Saturday dinner where he introduced Walker, former New Hampshire governor John Sununu, who was President George H.W. Bush's chief of staff and is unaffiliated in the race, referred to "the Obama-Clinton administration."
"We have destroyed our capacity to influence what goes on around the globe," Sununu said.
Aside from the grave policy critiques, Republicans also used Obama and Clinton for laughs.
Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, who ran unsuccessfully for a US Senate seat in California in 2010, mentioned her own extensive global travel, then referenced Clinton's oft-cited miles logged during her time at the State Department.
"Unlike Mrs. Clinton, I know that flying is an activity, not an accomplishment," Fiorina said, winning laughs and applause.
The summit came as candidates in both parties ramp up their campaigning, with a heavy focus on New Hampshire. Clinton, who announced her candidacy last week, is set to make her first campaign foray into the state on Monday.
Former Florida governor Jeb Bush and US Senator Marco Rubio of Florida — two of the prospective candidates regarded in the field's top tier — spoke on Friday. Both faulted Obama's handling of the American role abroad, and Rubio said Obama had "eviscerated our military capabilities."
Bush, who used his remarks to tout his " 'I'm-not-kidding' conservative" record, called Obama "the most liberal president in modern history."
"If only the terrorists attacked a golf course, that might actually get the White House's attention," US Senator Ted Cruz of Texas said on Saturday.
The 19 contenders — all but two of the still-forming GOP field — spoke in an oft-full ballroom over two days, using a stage backdropped by a large US flag and flanked by two others. Many used the occasion as a jumping-off point for campaign stops around the state.
Earlier in the week, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who on Friday told the summit that Obama was "a weak president," sought to affix a spotlight on domestic matters, delivering an address Tuesday at Saint Anselm College proposing changes to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
Without addressing those high-dollar programs, Christie said, the nation would be so financially strapped that it would be unable to tackle any other priorities.
Jim O'Sullivan can be reached at jim.osullivan@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JOSreports.