President Obama clearly won the third and final presidential debate of the 2012 elections. A reticent, tired, and, by the middle of the debate, sweating and nervous Mitt Romney worked hard to try to inject all he had recently learned about foreign policy into his comments, but he clearly was out of his league and out of his element.
Romney delivered a poor performance, switched positions several times, and managed, curiously, to compliment Obama on many of his positions.
Here are the two best lines on the night.
In “Obama To Romney: The 1980s Called — They Want Their Foreign Policy Back,” Talking Points Memo wrote:
President Obama blasted Mitt Romney at the foreign policy debate, saying he had given no correct answers on national security.
“Gov. Romney, I’m glad you recognize al-Qaeda is a threat, because a few months ago when you were asked what is the biggest geopolitical group facing America, you said Russia — not al-Qaeda. And the 1980’s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back — because the Cold War has been over for 20 years. But Governor, when it comes to our foreign policy, you seem to want to import the foreign policies of the 1980’s, just like the social policy of the 1950’s, and the economic policies of the 1920’s.
Think Progress, which did a great job fact checking and live-blogging, adds:
Obama mocked Romney’s widely debunked Navy claim during the debate, noting, “Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets.â€
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While CBS News’ Bob Schieffer did a marginal job — he allowed the debate to veer way off — he got in a great line at the end, as Romney embarrassed himself, repeating how much he loves teachers, Schieffer ended Romney’s time by saying, “I think we all love teachers.”
“The worst performance on foreign policy by any Republican president at a debate ever,” MSNBC’s Ed Schultz noted.
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