President Barack Obama portrayed rival Gov. Mitt Romney as "all
over the map" and inexperienced on key national security issues in the third and
final debate of the presidential election Monday night in Boca Raton, Fla. Each
candidate attempted to paint the other as an untrustworthy commander in chief,
but Romney's performance was less aggressive than Obama's, and the governor was
often on defense in the 90-minute exchange.
"I know you haven't been in a position to actually execute foreign policy—but
every time you've offered an opinion, you've been wrong," Obama said,
referencing Romney's initial support for the Iraq war.
The president in general was harshly critical
of Romney, and landed a few well-placed zingers. "The Cold War's been over for
20 years," he said in response to Romney's comment from several months ago that
Russia is America's primary geopolitical foe.
He later said, "Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets," in
response to Romney's criticism that America has fewer Navy ships than in the
past. "We have these things called aircraft carriers, where planes land on them.
We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines," the president
added, a touch of mockery entering his voice.
Romney frequently pivoted to domestic issues and the economy, including the
high number of Americans in poverty, his education record in Massachusetts, and
his plans for reducing the deficit and creating jobs.
On foreign policy, Romney did not criticize how
Obama handled the murder of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens in Libya, a topic he
brought up in last week's town hall-style debate. Instead, Romney said the
Middle East is in "tumult" and "chaos," and suggested Obama's strategy of
killing Al Qaeda leaders in drone strikes is not enough to bring stability to
the region.
"We can't kill our way out of this mess,"
Romney said. "We're going to have to put in place a very comprehensive and
robust strategy to help the ... world of Islam and other parts of the world
reject this radical violent extremism, which certainly [is] not on the run."
Romney also slammed Obama for what he called his "apology tour" in the Middle
East, which he said projected weakness abroad. "The president began what I've
called an apology tour of going to nations in the Middle East and criticizing
America. I think they looked at that and saw weakness," Romney said. Obama
called this a "whopper" and criticized Romney for fundraising on his trip to
Israel. "When I went to Israel as a candidate, I didn't take donors," Obama
said. "I didn't attend fundraisers. I went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum
there, to remind myself of the nature of evil and why our bond with Israel will
be unbreakable."
Despite the crossfire, the candidates seemed to agree on many key
foreign-policy issues, including the use of drone strikes to kill people
believed to be terrorists, harsh sanctions on Iran (though Romney said the
sanctions should be even stricter), and a strategy of avoiding military
involvement in Syria.
After Romney seemed to avoid specifics on how he would handle Syria's civil
war differently from Obama, the president retorted: "What you've just heard Gov.
Romney say is that he doesn't have different ideas."
Obama and Romney are statistically tied among voters in the most recent
polls, with Romney able to catch up with the president on the strength of his
performance in the first debate in Denver. On foreign policy in particular,
Obama's lead over Romney, in the double digits only a few months ago, has shrunk
to just four points, according
to a recent Pew poll.
Americans considered President Obama the loser in the first debate in Denver
by historic margins, and Romney's poll numbers soared after his strong
performance there. When the candidates met for a rematch at Hofstra University
on Long Island last week, a much more assertive Obama showed up, and snap polls
showed he was considered a narrow winner of the night.
It remains to be seen if this debate will provide a "bounce" for either
candidate in the last few weeks of the campaign. Voters overwhelmingly say the
economy and jobs are the most important issues for them in this
election.
