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Presidential Debate Focuses On America’s Role In The World

Max Schwartz |
October 22, 2012 | 7:41 p.m. PDT

Staff Reporter

Governor Romney and President Obama during the third Presidential debate. (Neon Tommy)
Governor Romney and President Obama during the third Presidential debate. (Neon Tommy)
The third and final presidential debate, from Lynn University in the battleground state of Florida, focused on foreign policy. Some have said that President Barack Obama is the first Democrat to have an advantage in foreign policy since President John F. Kennedy.

On the other hand, some have said former Gov. Mitt Romney does not have a lot of foreign policy experience. In perspective, Obama has ordered more than 300 drone strikes in Pakistan to go after members of al-Qaeda or the Taliban.

Although Romney has yet to have the chance to order drone strikes, he has had multiple foreign policy gaffes, such as insulting Great Britain during his trip to Europe.

This debate was different than the previous presidential debates in that each question is a segment, with minor exceptions. The third segment, or umbrella question, was about Americans' role in the world. The exact question moderator Bob Schieffer posed was, “What is America’s role in the world?”

Romney had the first response to this question. He said, “…America has [the] responsibility to defend freedom...” Romney continued with, “…we want to end those conflicts…America must be strong…”

The conflicts the former governor referred to are the conflicts in the Middle East.

Romney then brought this question back to his niche, the economy. Romney said, “…we must strengthen our economy…we’ve got to strengthen our military long-term…I would not cut our military budget…”

Obama responded to the question with, “America remains the one indispensable nation…” Romney discussed America’s alliances and Obama said in direct response to those comments, “…Governor Romney, our alliances have never been stronger…”

Obama then moved into rebuilding the country on the home front. The president mentioned rebuilding America and he said, “…we’ve got to make sure we reduce our deficit…” This brought the discussion to the deficit and more on the economy.

Romney countered with, “I’ve got a policy for the future…I will get America working again…” He then mentioned part of his five-point plan. Romney then bashed Obama for not having unemployment at around five percent. This led into a greater discussion of domestic issues.

Obama took what Romney said and ran with it, and focused on education for a large part of his comment. Obama said, “I want to hire more teachers,” which is something he has said before. Schieffer wanted to get back to foreign policy, but Romney insisted on countering the president’s comments on education. He spoke about education in Massachusetts.

When Schieffer asked about the military and the budget relating to the military, Romney talked cutting the budget and discussed parts of his five-point plan. Obama kept trying to interject, but Romney kept going.

When Obama had the opportunity to talk, he also spoke about the budget, but mentioned that the military budget has gone up under him. He also brought up that Romney wants to increase the military’s budget while even though the military is not asking for it.

Romney countered with by saying he would balance the budget, but he added that he would not cut the military’s budget. Romney then brought up how Obama has turned the military into a military that can only fight one conflict at a time.

Obama then countered with a zinger and explained why the United States Navy has fewer ships than it did in 1960. He reminded everyone that war has changed.


Reach Staff Reporter Max Schwartz here; follow him on Twitter here.



 

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