GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney sounded a surprisingly conciliatory note at the outset of Monday’s foreign policy debate, stating: “I congratulate the president on the killing of Osama bin Laden… but we can’t kill our way out of this mess.”
The response by President Barack Obama to that olive branch from Romney could be summed up in one word: Attack.
Declaring “al-Qaida’s core leadership has been decimated,” the president began delivering the expected body blows right away as he tries to portray Romney as a risky alternative on foreign policy.
Editor's Note: Obama Movie Exposes His Vision for America. Click here.
“Gov. Romney,” Obama said, “I’m glad that you agree that we have been successful in going after al-Qaida. But I have to tell you that your strategy previously has been one that has been all over the map, and is not designed to keep America safe or to build on the opportunities that exist in the Middle East.”
That broadside was actually mild to the ones that followed. Obama charged that Romney wants “to import the foreign policies of the 1980s.” He added, looking directly at Romney: “Every time you’ve offered an opinion, you’ve been wrong. You said we should go into Iraq despite no weapons of mass destruction. You’ve said we should still be in Iraq to this day.”
At times an onlooker might have presume it was Romney, rather than Obama, who was enjoying the benefits of incumbency.
“Well of course I don’t concur with what the president said about my own record and what I’ve said, they don’t happen to be accurate,” Romney replied calmly. “But I can say this: We are talking about the Middle East, and how to help the Middle East reject the kind of terrorism we’re seeing and the rising tide of tumult and confusion.
“And attacking me is not an agenda,” he said in what may prove to be one of the more memorable lines in the evening. “Attacking me is not talking about how we’re going to deal with the challenges that exist in the Middle East unless we take advantage of the opportunity there, and stem the tide of this violence.”
The fiery exchange occurred in the context of a presidential race that a host of polls now evaluated as dead even. The RealClearPolitics poll average has Gov. Romney at a scant four-tenths of a percentage point lead over President Obama, 47.6 to 47.2 percent. The Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released Monday morning showed the race a dead heat, 47 to 47 percent.
The latest Washington Post/ABC News issued Monday afternoon shows Obama leading Romney 49 to 48 percent. The Gallup daily tracking poll, on the other hand, showed Romney continuing to maintain a 6-point lead over Obama, 51 percent to 45 percent. Early foreign policies issues covered included the response to Syria’s aggression on the rebels fighting there, the administration’s response to the killing of the American ambassador and three other Americans in Benghazi, Libya, and the resurgence of al-Qaida amidst the so-called Arab Spring.
Editor's Note: Obama Movie Exposes His Vision for America. Click here.
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