Top Obama adviser David Axelrod took a dig at Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, who this week said that when it comes to foreign policy and the threat of Iran building a nuclear weapon, President Obama has been “feckless.” But when asked about Rush Limbaugh’s rant in which he called a Georgetown law student a “slut,” Romney said that’s “not the language I would have used.”

Axelrod said Wednesday in conference call with reporters that it was a “cowardly” response and that if Romney couldn’t stand up to one of “the most strident voices in your party, how can he stand up to [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad?”

“The Limbaugh thing was a test of leadership and you have them all the time, and Mitt Romney has failed those tests in the campaign,” he added.

Axelrod and Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said that the prolonged GOP nominating race is a bonus for them.

“The longer the Republican primary goes, the longer we have to continue to build,” said Messina.

“While they’re destroying each other, we’re building a campaign nationally,” Axelrod added.

And according to Axelrod, it’s really hurting Romney, the presumptive nominee, by forcing him to move too far to the right, alienating independent and women voters. The two advisors also noted that conservatives still aren’t feeling the former Massachusetts governor, and as a result he’s “limped” over the finish line in several states, most recently Ohio, which has sometimes been achieved by attacking his opponents.

“It’s very hard to unify a party when 90 percent of your advertising or more is negative,” Axelrod said. “We try to appeal to the best of people and they appear to be appealing to the worst instincts.”

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(Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images)