By

Stephanie Condon /

CBS News/ September 24, 2012, 6:00 AM

Obama, Romney take the global stage: What to expect

Barack Obama, Mitt Romney Getty Images

(CBS News) When it comes to foreign policy, both President Obama and Mitt Romney may very well want to adjust the narrative of recent weeks. At two international forums in New York City this week, both presidential candidates may have the opportunity to do so.

After days of turmoil in the Middle East that's raised new questions about Mr. Obama's strategy abroad, the president will deliver remarks at the opening session of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. His speech gives him the opportunity to defend his foreign policy record and highlight his accomplishments. Off stage, the administration will engage with other U.N. members on a number of daunting issues, including the ongoing bloodshed in Syria, Iran's nuclear ambitions, turmoil in the Middle East and stability in Afghanistan.

That same day, the president addresses the Clinton Global Initiative, also in New York City. Mitt Romney will also deliver a speech at the forum on Tuesday. The Republican presidential candidate has the chance to recalibrate his campaign message after some perceived missteps, such as his response to the crisis in Libya, and campaign distractions like the recording of his remarks at a private fundraiser. Given that the event is hosted by one of Mr. Obama's strongest surrogates, former President Bill Clinton, Romney will also have the opportunity to dial down the partisan rancor that both parties have fueled and take a statesmanlike tone.

A more somber time, a more pragmatic president

When Mr. Obama addresses his foreign counterparts at the U.N. this week, he will face some difficult realities that didn't exist last year.

"It's going to be more of a somber appearance, at a somber time," Stewart Patrick, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told CBSNews.com.

The current turmoil in the Muslim world -- and the recent death of the U.S. ambassador to Libya -- stand in stark contrast to the hopeful tone Mr. Obama struck almost exactly one year ago, when he hailed the U.N.'s intervention in Libya. "This is how the international community is supposed to work," he said, "nations standing together for the sake of peace and security, and individuals claiming their right."

"Fast forward 365 days, and you've got a much more daunting, particularly regional, picture there," Patrick said.


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    Stephanie Condon is a political reporter for CBSNews.com.

16 Comments Add a Comment
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RollotheNorman says:
Romney may have a gaff or he may not. The debate is structured so to give him every opportunity to step on his dick, short though it may be. I'm thinking Jim Lehrer is not going to let vague and sweeping generalizations go unchallenged, and that might give Willard a bad night. Other than that, Obama has adequate but not great debate skills, so given and average performance by Willard, it'll be a wash when Willard desperately needs to score big.
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nirak2-2009 says:
Romney's sudden tan is almost darker than the Presidents
Good thing Romney didn't try to impress Chinese people
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Verascity replies:
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And he's so smart. Like this Romney quote as an example:
"When you have a fire in an aircraft, there's no place to go, exactly, there's no — and you can't find any oxygen from outside the aircraft to get in the aircraft, because the windows don't open. I don't know why they don't do that. It's a real problem. So it's very dangerous."
Why not let him sit by the emergency exit just in case there's another fire?
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openyourheads says:
romney will bring destruction to are country because hes raising his fists to russia so world war 3 with russia china and iran we would have to travel pretty far leading us to debt romney should stop flip flopping his ideas so he could be trustworthy and a rich person like himself should think like a poor person to make this economy better so i rather vote obama since ron paul is out of the race
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hypnotoad72 replies:
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To be fair, it is not without precedent that the US has declared default, lived to tell the tale, and still end up being a superpower.
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clarityforvoyence says:
Let's stand up to the real problems facing the country rather then worrying about Mitt Romney's taxes in which he gave 30% to charity and has clearly paid! How about the American blood shed overseas and the bankrupted economy for starters!

For me Romney is looking like the better choice. Pres. What has Pres. Obama done to change anything inside of Washington.
The American people are suffering. They can't feed their families, can't fill up the gas tank without breaking the bank, they can't spend money they don't have.

Since Obama took office:
Gasoline went from $1.85 to now over $4.00 a gallon
Household Median declines thousands in Obama years.
More Government implication in insurance policies by requiring
insurances to pay for contraceptive. (What happen to freedom of religious practices with religious institutions)?
Poverty rate over 46 million people the highest since, 1993 1959
Food prices are higher by over 6% if not more in some areas
Over 23 million people trying to get work.
Obama spent over670 million dollars on bad investments ex(Solyndra)
Unemployment rate is over 8%
Blood shed in foreign countries because no one carried weapons on 911 2012? Why?
4 more years of this?
While the debt passes $16,000,000,000,000. Trillion dollars and the country STILL has no budget since Obama took office in 2008!.
Cut spending, bring America back to prosperity! simple and easy.

Romney could change Washington as the outsider, owes no favors to anyone, fixes and gets thinks done!
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hypnotoad72 replies:
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clarityforvoyence -

If you feel that way, then let's discuss the source of the problem:

Private industry determines who gets paid what, who gets hired and why, et cetera.

Stop whining about figureheads and get real to the source of the problem... the same problem that has bought this country's politicians via lobbyists. Not unions, since there are far fewer of them today than there were 30 years ago, but there are far more corporate lobbyists...

Look at root causes. Not symptoms. If you think a symptom is a cause, think deeper - try to find the actual root. Unions fought for a middle class. Unions never ever once told big business not to exploit or extort... (I love how the anti-union people don't realize how myopic they are as well...)
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sjc_1 says:
Romney would be like Bush, they only care about a few things. Bush was for money, power, war and oil. Romney is for money, power, war and oil.
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openyourheads says:
well i rather stick to the devil i know (obama) then the devil i dont know (romney)i dont know why romney flip flops on his ideas so much. all im saying is i dont think a rich person thinks like a poor person because he wanted to cut down a cabinet position called house of urban developement,he wants world war 3 with russia iran and china god knows how far we would have to travel just to sink into more debt you could check his antirussian speeches HES A LIAR,WARMONGER, AND HES GREEDY I RATHER STICK TO OBAMA BECAUSE I RATHER HAVE SOMEONE THAT DOESNT DO ANYTHING THEN A PERSON WHO WILL DESTROY THIS COUNTRY TOO BAD RON PAUL IS NOT GOING TO BE ELECTED
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hypnotoad72 replies:
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Why don't you tell us how Ron will back up anything he said?

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/03/does-the-romney-ron-paul-pact-make-paul-a-sellout/253805/

Read his website.

Since we export oil, his talk of energy independence is one-dimensional and laughable.

His "worker rights" is just a bait-and-switch for anti-union propaganda and says NOTHING about anything approaching our rights. So you'd better ask him for some details because he should have provided them and not play these lame-*** games.

He talks of ending corporate welfare and bailouts. Fine and dandy, I liked it when he said homeowners and not banks should have been bailed out. But I digress. Let's say every bailout stops. We both know the system will crash quicker than a drunk pilot getting laid while sleeping while trying to fly his plane. But Ron doesn't seem very interested to say what would happen after the obvious crash... perhaps you know? Since he says nothing, it must therefore be a workers' utopia... forgive me while I snicker, because I don't believe that for one attosecond... neither would you.
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openyourheads says:
well i rather stick to the devil i know (obama) then the devil i dont know (romney)i dont know why romney flip flops on his ideas so much. all im saying is i dont think a rich person thinks like a poor person because he wanted to cut down a cabinet position called house of urban developement,he wants world war 3 with russia iran and china god knows how far we would have to travel just to sink into more debt you could check his antirussian speeches HES A LIAR,WARMONGER, AND HES GREEDY I RATHER STICK TO OBAMA BECAUSE I RATHER HAVE SOMEONE THAT DOESNT DO ANYTHING THEN A PERSON WHO WILL DESTROY THIS COUNTRY TOO BAD RON PAUL IS NOT GOING TO BE ELECTED
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bingham22 says:
Romney will at least uphold the constitution and our flag! Any person who has served or has loved ones who served on any of the wars, and fought for what our flag stands for would be disgusted by the arrogance of Obama, the only sitting president to feel he had to design his own flag, and put his name in the place of the stars which represent the states.

The sheer narcissism that it took to do something like this is breathtaking. Maybe the Canadian paper was correct in their assessment that if Obama is re-elected he will be the last president of the USA. I saw this flag in an national review article this morning, I thought at first it had to be a bad joke...how sad and disgusting that it is real. How can anyone in their right mind want to keep this man as the leader of the "free" world is beyond my understanding.

http://foxnewsinsider.com/2012/09/20/picture-obama-campaign-redesigns-american-flag/
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RollotheNorman replies:
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Any person who has served or has loved ones who served on any of the wars, and fought for what our flag stands for would be disgusted by your post. I served and I'm not voting Willard the Robber Barron.
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cubscout09 says:
It will be difficult for Romney to "endorse the idea of foreign aid while stressing that aid should only be given to partners who are ready to make good use of it." in light of the September 13th, House vote and the September 22nd, Senate ratification of House Joint Resolution 117 which extends foreign aid to Libya, Egypt and Israel through March, 2013. The cows done already left the barn, Mitt.
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animaltoo says:
You lost me at stability in Afghanistan. We need to get as far away from the Middle East as possible and leave them to their violence and savagery.
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