“Hillary and I have spent the last three and a half years cleaning up after other folks’ messes,” Obama told donors, referring to President George W. Bush’s foreign policy.

“We’re starting to get them pretty cleaned up,” he continued. “The war in Iraq is over. We’re transitioning in Afghanistan. We’ve got the strongest allies we’ve ever seen.”

The riff is likely to spark a fierce reaction from Mitt Romney, who has surrounded himself with many members of Bush’s foreign policy team. Romney has criticized Obama for “leading from behind” and “apologizing for America abroad” as part of his standard stump speech.