The third presidential debate was more of a gathering of knights at the round table than the pay-per-view boxing match of the second debate.
The third and final debate from Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fl. Oct. 22 focused on foreign policy (for the most part), as Romney played pacifist while the President continued to go on the offensive. In fact, moderator Bob Schieffer seemed more inclined to intervene during Obama’s character attacks than Romney.
This was certainly a stark shift from the second debate, where Romney often interjected and at one point claimed the President never classified the attack in Benghazi as a terrorist attack. Even moderator Candy Crowley interjected and informed governor Romney that Obama had in fact called the attack an “attack on terror” at a Sept. 12 press conference at the Rose Garden.
Yet Romney avoided any and all “Romneyisms;” there were no references to “binders full of women” or even his professed love for Big Bird. Rather, there was a stark role reversal of each candidate, whereby Romney emphasized fixing Middle East relations, closing the gap on gender equality, and a need for better education. The only stab at Obama’s foreign policy was stating that America “can’t kill our way out of this mess,” referring to Obama’s continual credit for ending the war in Iraq and taking out Osama Bin Laden.
And it was Obama who often had the snide comments up his sleeve. The most notable was when Romney criticized the spending cuts to the Navy, when Obama rebutted: “Well governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets,” which produced laughs from the crowd, “because the nature of our military’s changed. We have these things called aircraft carriers, where planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines.”
While Romney spoke softly, yet carried a big stick, Obama’s continual attacks on Romney’s character seemed, well, out of character and more personal than political. As opposed to domestic policy, foreign policy has some advantages for incumbents like Obama, who have experience to fall on when addressing issues such as Middle East relations. Obama can easily portray Romney as inexperienced, while Romney is unable to provide much detail about what could be done differently without any resume to fall back on.
Romney essentially had nothing to lose and all to gain in the final debate before the election. Romney has gained ground in recent polls, and the swing states in full motion, Romney could afford to play softball with the President, and turn his focus these last two weeks on the campaign trail in battleground states like Ohio, Iowa, and even Nevada. A Quinnipiac University/CBS News/New York Times poll last month had Obama ahead in Ohio by 10 points; that lead is now five percentage points, further tightening the race for key electoral votes in Ohio.
Forget a stalemate, this race could very well be a toss-up.
Notable things the candidates agreed on:
-Setting a deadline on the withdrawal of troops out of Iraq by the end of 2014
-The use of drones in Afghanistan to attack suspected militants
-Maintaining a strong relationship with Israel
-The liberation of women overseas