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Obama trumps Romney in 3rd presidential debate; both agree drone attacks on Pak should continue - The Times of India
WASHINGTON: Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney was "all over the map" and White House incumbent Barack Obama was all over him as the two contenders to lead the careworn superpower for the next four years struggled to provide a vision for the world in their third and final debate before the November 6 polls.
President Obama was widely seen as handily winning the debate that focused mostly on foreign policy, mainly on account of the incumbency advantage that gave him better insight into complex ground situations and allowed him to express it with greater clarity in his summations. A CBS insta-poll found that 53 percent of uncommitted voters thought Obama won the final debate, while 23 percent gave it to Romney. 24 percent were undecided.
But Mitt Romney was no mug on foreign policy, and projected a degree of authority, although he failed to articulate a clear or different vision. He seemed to agree substantially with the Obama foreign policy, differing only in tone, emphasis, and nuance. The social critic and comic Bill Maher joked that Romney's entire debate strategy was to say what Obama said, except it came from a white guy.
In fact, at one point, while talking on Iran, President Obama needled his rival, saying, "there have been times, Governor...where it sounded like you thought that you'd do the same things we did but you'd say them louder and somehow that would make a difference."
It was one of several swipes an aggressive Obama took at Romney, who was clearly disadvantaged by not being in executive command and have bragging rights over achievements such as nailing Osama bin Laden. Obama, in turn, managed to deflect criticism of things that haven't gone better by projecting it as a work in progress.
Although Romney disavowed the boilerplate muscular Republican foreign policy, at one point saying "we cannot kill ourselves out of this mess,"Obama called his rival's policy prescriptions "wrong and reckless."
The area where Romney took the sharpest hit was in defense, traditionally a strong Republican talking point. The Obama camp had evidently prepared well to counter Romney's familiar critique about the U.S military being downsized and its Navy reduced to its smallest size since 1917.
"Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets because the nature of our military's changed," Obama riposted, gratuitously adding, "We have these things called aircraft carriers where planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines. And so the question is not a game of Battleship where we're counting ships."
The audience, which did not participate in the debate (all questions came from the moderator, CBS' Bob Schieffer), gasped and tittered.
No relief for Pakistan from Drone attacks
As expected, India did not come up even once during the 90-minute debate, not even obliquely or tangentially (nor did Japan or European Union, for that matter), or in reference to China or Pakistan. But the news was not good for Islamabad. Romney agreed with the Obama policy of keeping up drone attacks inside the troubled country despite its protestations.
In fact, although both men spoke at length of the dangers of Iran going nuclear, the turmoil in Libya and Syria, and contentious issues with China, it was Pakistan and its combustible mix of nuclear weapons and home-grown terrorism, and its fallout on Afghanistan, the U.S withdrawal from there, and on the neighborhood, that seemed to worry them most. There was clearly no love for Pakistan -- just concern, distrust, and a vague sense of bringing about a course-correction in the country that Romney spoke about.
President Obama set the tone when he bragged about killing bin Laden and mocked Romney for saying in 2008 that the U.S should ask Pakistan for permission to hunt him. "If we had asked Pakistan for permission, we would not have gotten him," Obama said in a public indictment and implicit mistrust of a once-coddled U.S ally. Romney too said at one point that Pakistan has been anything but an ally.
Although Romney said he was against "divorcing" Pakistan and was for "rebuilding" the relationship with a country that had more than 100 nuclear weapons and terrorists, when he was asked pointblank about his position on the use of drones, he minced no words in support of the Obama policy. In fact, it was the only time he fully and unequivocally backed Obama.
"I believe that we should use any and all means necessary to take out people who pose a threat to us and our friends around the world...I support that entirely and feel the president was right to up the usage of that technology and believe that we should continue to use it," he responded.
The two men also jousted on China, although the differences were exaggerated and polemical. Romney maintained that he would be tougher than Obama on China on the economic front; Obama, as he has done before, taunted him for investing in companies that exported jobs to China, and bragged that he had stared down China in the Asia-Pacific region and announced U.S permanent interests in the region.
Large parts of the world -- European Union, Africa, Asia south-east of Pakistan -- and many issues like environment and global health remained unaddressed as the two candidates repeatedly tracked back to the U.S economy to score debating points, usually repeating statistics and talking point they had used in previous debates and speeches.
WASHINGTON: Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney was "all over the map" and White House incumbent Barack Obama was all over him as the two contenders to lead the careworn superpower for the next four years struggled to provide a vision for the world in their third and final debate before the November 6 polls.
President Obama was widely seen as handily winning the debate that focused mostly on foreign policy, mainly on account of the incumbency advantage that gave him better insight into complex ground situations and allowed him to express it with greater clarity in his summations. A CBS insta-poll found that 53 percent of uncommitted voters thought Obama won the final debate, while 23 percent gave it to Romney. 24 percent were undecided.
But Mitt Romney was no mug on foreign policy, and projected a degree of authority, although he failed to articulate a clear or different vision. He seemed to agree substantially with the Obama foreign policy, differing only in tone, emphasis, and nuance. The social critic and comic Bill Maher joked that Romney's entire debate strategy was to say what Obama said, except it came from a white guy.
In fact, at one point, while talking on Iran, President Obama needled his rival, saying, "there have been times, Governor...where it sounded like you thought that you'd do the same things we did but you'd say them louder and somehow that would make a difference."
It was one of several swipes an aggressive Obama took at Romney, who was clearly disadvantaged by not being in executive command and have bragging rights over achievements such as nailing Osama bin Laden. Obama, in turn, managed to deflect criticism of things that haven't gone better by projecting it as a work in progress.
Although Romney disavowed the boilerplate muscular Republican foreign policy, at one point saying "we cannot kill ourselves out of this mess,"Obama called his rival's policy prescriptions "wrong and reckless."
The area where Romney took the sharpest hit was in defense, traditionally a strong Republican talking point. The Obama camp had evidently prepared well to counter Romney's familiar critique about the U.S military being downsized and its Navy reduced to its smallest size since 1917.
"Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets because the nature of our military's changed," Obama riposted, gratuitously adding, "We have these things called aircraft carriers where planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines. And so the question is not a game of Battleship where we're counting ships."
The audience, which did not participate in the debate (all questions came from the moderator, CBS' Bob Schieffer), gasped and tittered.
No relief for Pakistan from Drone attacks
As expected, India did not come up even once during the 90-minute debate, not even obliquely or tangentially (nor did Japan or European Union, for that matter), or in reference to China or Pakistan. But the news was not good for Islamabad. Romney agreed with the Obama policy of keeping up drone attacks inside the troubled country despite its protestations.
In fact, although both men spoke at length of the dangers of Iran going nuclear, the turmoil in Libya and Syria, and contentious issues with China, it was Pakistan and its combustible mix of nuclear weapons and home-grown terrorism, and its fallout on Afghanistan, the U.S withdrawal from there, and on the neighborhood, that seemed to worry them most. There was clearly no love for Pakistan -- just concern, distrust, and a vague sense of bringing about a course-correction in the country that Romney spoke about.
President Obama set the tone when he bragged about killing bin Laden and mocked Romney for saying in 2008 that the U.S should ask Pakistan for permission to hunt him. "If we had asked Pakistan for permission, we would not have gotten him," Obama said in a public indictment and implicit mistrust of a once-coddled U.S ally. Romney too said at one point that Pakistan has been anything but an ally.
Although Romney said he was against "divorcing" Pakistan and was for "rebuilding" the relationship with a country that had more than 100 nuclear weapons and terrorists, when he was asked pointblank about his position on the use of drones, he minced no words in support of the Obama policy. In fact, it was the only time he fully and unequivocally backed Obama.
"I believe that we should use any and all means necessary to take out people who pose a threat to us and our friends around the world...I support that entirely and feel the president was right to up the usage of that technology and believe that we should continue to use it," he responded.
The two men also jousted on China, although the differences were exaggerated and polemical. Romney maintained that he would be tougher than Obama on China on the economic front; Obama, as he has done before, taunted him for investing in companies that exported jobs to China, and bragged that he had stared down China in the Asia-Pacific region and announced U.S permanent interests in the region.
Large parts of the world -- European Union, Africa, Asia south-east of Pakistan -- and many issues like environment and global health remained unaddressed as the two candidates repeatedly tracked back to the U.S economy to score debating points, usually repeating statistics and talking point they had used in previous debates and speeches.
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