There were not great disagreements on many of the foreign policy issues discussed. Romney and Obama agreed on Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria and terrorism in general. Romney, however, had a different take than Obama on China, the strength of America in the world, and the approach to many problems moving into the future. On these topics, Romney was able to point to the failures of the last four years on so many different fronts; more important Romney had a plan for how to deal with each of these problems. Obama spent most of the time trying to paint Romney as a flip-flopper, a dangerous war monger and a neophyte. The silliness of those attacks by Obama was self-evident.
Obama's biggest problem of the night was his nastiness. I do not know if it was stress or anger, but Obama was truly nasty and disrespectful towards Romney in ways that one does not often see from a president of the United States. The low point came when Obama told Romney that the navy now has ships called aircraft carriers on which planes land and ships that go under the water called submarines. Obama spoke to Romney as if Romney were an ignoramus with no knowledge at all about the navy. It was demeaning, and I mean that it was demeaning for Obama. The president should not act that way. There were many other petty attacks put forward by Obama; their total impact was to make Obama look small.
Clearly, Romney came through the debate looking knowledgeable, calm, and in charge. He seemed to have a plan while Obama had none. Romney got to go back to Obama's failures on the economy and the great impact that had reducing America's strength. Romney also got to explain his plan for dealing with China and he did so in a way that makes clear to most folks why that plan is likely to work.
There is still two weeks to go until election day. Barring a last minute surprise, however, I believe that Romney sealed the deal to win the election tonight.
2 comments:
If you think Romney won the debate tonight, you are more delusional than you generally are in your views. Romney basically said President Obama you are doing as good as a leader can do in international affairs as one can do. Romney was passive, clearly was not in his element, and for the first half hour was nervous as can be. Romney may end up winning but tonight did nothing to help him.
Jim:
You are entitled to your opinion, but you ought to be aware of this: the snap polling following the debate said, by a small margin, that Obama won the debate. More important, however, that same polling also said that voters were more inclined to vote for Romney after the debate than they were for Obama. Since the name of the game is picking up votes and winning the election, Romney comes out the winner.
By the way, why do Obama supporters always think that anyone who opposes them is "delusional"? Whatever happened to the American tradition of disagreeing with someone on politics without it being personal?
Post a Comment