The Third and last US presidential debate for the 2012 elections was held on Monday 22 October 2012. The debate was held at Lynn University, Boca Raton, Florida. Bob Schieffer of CBS moderated it. The debate was held two weeks prior to the elections. The media houses had given each candidate a single win in the previous debates with Romney taking the first and Obama the second.
Furthermore, shortly before the debate, the CBS News poll had given Obama a forty-eight percent lead on handling foreign policy matters compared to Romney’s forty-six percent. The debate focused on foreign policy that was subdivided into the following subtopics, the attacks in Benghazi, Iran’s nuclear program, and war on terrorism. The others included the Size of the US military, and focus on China. The politicians mixed the issues much as the moderator tried to control it.
Schieffer took everybody by surprise when he started with the attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi Libya. In his response, Obama accused Romney for pursuing what he called shoot then aim reaction. He lashed out at Romney for seeking political mileage with the lives of Americans.
He insisted that Romney did not have specific policies on foreign policy. In the President’s opinion, American allies and foes ought to know the American stand. This was a trend brought by American fathers (Thurber 2009) Romney accused the President of failing to act on the intelligence report that had been received. He however, insisted on empowering the people of Libya and the Arab world economically.
When the matter of Syria came up, the two leaders agreed that action was needed in Syria, they both talked about giving the anti-government groups weapons to help overthrow the government. In addition, Romney urged for caution to make sure that the terrorists do not take advantage to use weapons. He accused the President of leading from behind. The president maintained that the government of Syria had to be ousted. The US was keenly after the issue and the necessary support would be given.
When the issue of spending on the US military came up, Romney refused to comment but instead directed people to his website for details. Obama explained that technology had advanced and that for America to stay as the best military nation in the world, their soldiers had to be given the best resources (Thurber 2009).
Romney accused the President of treating Iran with hands of glove. That the president delayed in imposing sanctions on Iran, hence its impact had weakened. Obama however, insisted that the sanctions were already crippling Iran and that military intervention would be undertaken when necessary. He quoted Romney as having been unstable. He supported Iraq invasion, but refused the planned withdrawal from both Iraq and Afghanistan.
They agreed that Israel was America’s close ally and needed more attention and protection. The tour made by Obama that Romney called the apology tour never made a great impact because the President overshadowed it (Thurber 2009). In my opinion, The President won. A few reasons attributed to this.
During the debate, Romney gave into much of the President’s ideas. The President had a head start in the foreign policy due to incumbency. This limited Romney’s knowledge of execution of the foreign policy. Romney was not average in his policies. He put a lot of emphasis on the domestic policies such as employment and economy giving little attention to the foreign matters. The President was balanced hence; he could handle questions from any field.
Works Cited
Thurber, James. Congress and Presidency. Washington: American University 2009.Print.