In general, points made by
Obama on foreign policy/national security were met not with a compelling
philosophical alternative from Romney, but instead with a flourish of
overly-nuanced "me toos." He pretty
much disused his compulsory, if not handy hard-right persona and essentially became Obama by virtually adopting in nearly
word-for-word dulcet, Obama's foreign policy/national security doctrine.
For example, when asked a
question on Syria, part of Obama's response included the following:
--ultimately, Syrians are going to have to determine
their own future. And so everything we're doing, we're doing in consultation
with our partners in the region, including Israel " coordinating with Turkey
and other countries in the region that have a great interest in this" And we
have to do so making absolutely certain that we know who we are helping, that
we're not putting arms in the hands of folks who eventually could turn them
against us or our allies in the region."
Just moments later, Romney
offered a response that merely echoed that of the President:
--the right course for us is working through our partners
and with our own resources to identify responsible parties within Syria,
organize them, bring them together in a form of -- if not government, a form of
council that can take the lead in Syria, and then make sure they have the arms
necessary to defend themselves. We do need to make sure that they don't have
arms that get into the wrong hands."
And so it went. Thus, on the Monday night, his base saw Romney
firm in command as engineer of the once-immovable GOP national security
locomotive as it barreled backwards off the rails yet still on a trajectory to roll
over the Tea Party Express, itself stuck on the tracks since the 2010 mid-terms.
At its conclusion, snap-polls declared
Obama the winner. But on this night, the
previous debate's ultimate fighters provided an ultimate letdown. It was an interesting turn of events that seemed
to reflect a kind of odd irony relevant to the debate coinciding with the 50th
anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis, an experience moderator Bob Schieffer
described as "the closest we've ever come to nuclear war."
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