In final debate, fierce battle over foreign policy
Mr. Obama, however, argued that while what is "taking place in Syria is heartbreaking," the U.S. should not be premature in arming Syrian rebels.
"We also have to recognize that, you know, for us to get more entangled militarily in Syria is a serious step, and we have to do so making absolutely certain that we know who we are helping; that we're not putting arms in the hands of folks who eventually could turn them against us or allies in the region," he said. "We are playing the leadership role. We organized the friends of Syria. We are mobilizing humanitarian support, and support for the opposition. And we are making sure that those we help are those who will be friends of ours in the long term and friends of our allies in the region over the long term."
Obama on China: Romney "familiar with jobs being shipped overseas"
He also defended his record on Iraq and Afghanistan, and argued that drawing down the wars there allowed him to refocus the administration's attention on "who actually killed us on 9/11." Later, he delivered a personal anecdote about what the death for Osama bin Laden meant to a 9/11 victim's daughter, while reminding voters of a 2008 quote in which Romney said he wouldn't want to "move heaven and earth to get" Osama bin Laden.
Romney, who congratulated the president for "taking out" bin Laden early on in the debate, also agreed with the president on his administration's use of drone strikes, and said "we should use any and all means necessary to take out people who pose a threat to us and our friends around the world."
Both candidates seized on any opportunity to discuss their domestic policy issues, circling back to the economy, taxes and education at any available turn. Mr. Obama invoked Romney's 2008 opposition to bailing out the auto industry and reiterated his accusation that "the math doesn't work" for his economic proposal; Romney, meanwhile, touted his record on education during his tenure as Massachusetts governor.
The debate, at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., was divided into six 15-minute segments. According to an instant poll taken immediately following its conclusion, Mr. Obama scored a clear two-to-one victory against Romney, with 53 percent of respondents giving the debate to the president and just 23 percent calling it a win for Romney. Another 24 percent felt the debate was a tie.
Obama: "Apology tour" attack the "biggest whopper" of this campaign
Meanwhile, a CBS News poll released just hours before the debate showed Mr. Obama leading Romney by a 9-point margin on foreign policy. Likely voters also viewed Mr. Obama as stronger on terrorism and security: 49 percent said Mr. Obama would do a better job, and 42 percent said Romney would. On U.S. policy toward Iran, Mr. Obama edged Romney 46 percent to 43 percent among likely voters.
On U.S. policy toward China, a frequent Romney discussion point on the campaign trail, the two candidates are even at 44 percent. On Israel, Romney has an edge over the president, with 46 percent to Mr. Obama's 42 percent.
Mr. Obama also holds a lead on which candidate would better handle an international crisis: 38 percent of likely voters said they had a lot of confidence in him to do so, compared with 30 percent who expressed the same level of confidence in Romney. Still, a majority of voters express at least some confidence in both the President (62 percent) and Romney's ability (58 percent) to handle an international crisis.
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Romney likes to state what he believes in -which seems to be about everything, but Romney doesn't seem to really know anything! The only thing that is certain with Romney, his wealthy proprietors and the Republican Party is that they all despise Obama. Not Obama's policies, nor his inability, thus far, to correct the monumental blunders of the Bush/Cheney era, but Obama himself.
Prejudice is a malignant state of mind, devoid of intellect and sustained by hate. Trying to reason the prejudice out of someone is like trying to convince a corpse that physical therapy is the only solution to its problem.
Romney continued to repeat a lot of what Obama was saying regarding Foreign Policy and just 'trying' to sound more eloquent---very little authenticity in Romney. What a fraud!
The President also called Romney on taking credit for an educational program began 10 yrs before he was governor in Massachusetts, as Mitt continued to try and steer the debate to the economy and Mitt didn't bat an eye and kept right on playing up like the program that enjoyed success while he was governor was his idea to begin with, unbelievable!
Romney showed 'a little' integrity, finally acknowledging the President, agreeing with the Iran response Obama gave before he essentially repeated it!
Obama was right noting that Romney was saying he'd do what Obama's been saying and doing in Foreign Policy all along, only louder and expect a different result---like that's going to make a difference? In my view, Romney's louder is nothing more than a hucksters stale, hot air, LOL!
IRAN HATES AMERICA & IS DEVOLOPEING A NUCLEAR BOMB
=We Will Need more Horses & Bayonets
He might even vote for President Obama! ...But right now, his job is to bust chops!
Mitt Romney appointed Robert Zoellick as his national security transition planning chief. Mr. Zoellick stonewalled a GAO investigation http://citizenoversight.com/pdf/blwb.pdf into corruption at the World Bank requested by Senators Lugar, Leahy and Bayh. Paul Volcker's investigation into this corruption was discredited http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2010/04/06-3 With corruption at the World Bank, the United States lost the 66 year old Gentlemen's Agreement for the US to appoint the president of the World Bank http://www.imf.org/external/np/cm/2010/042510.htm
I am a lawyer who worked for twenty years in the World Bank's legal department. During oversight hearings for the appointment of the US Executive Director at the World Bank, I reported corruption at the World Bank to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Robert Zoellick, then President of the World Bank, fired me in retaliation. Senators Lugar, Leahy and Bayh commissioned a GAO study into corruption at the World Bank, but the World Bank only stonewalled. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Karen_Hudes/china-financial-reform_n_1191600_127701808.html The US Congress is requiring the World Bank to make significant progress in protecting its whistleblowers before its capital increase may be disbursed under Section 7082 of H.R. 2055, signed into law on December 23, 2011. The National Taxpayer's Union has a petition about this corruption at: http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-treasury-protect-whistleblowers-at-u-s-taxpayer-funded-international-banks Roughly three-quarters of the American public consistently prefers that the United States act jointly with other nations in foreign affairs.
I met with the Chairman of the World Bank's Audit Committee in 2009, and the Audit Committee appointed KPMG to audit the World Bank's internal control over financial reporting. When KPMG did not follow Generally Accepted Audit Principles and Standards, I met with the UK's Serious Fraud Office. In 2010 the SFO called the US Securities and Exchange Commission. I testified before the European Parliament on May 25, 2011, http://www.europarl.europa.eu/document/activities/cont/201105/20110518ATT19540/20110518ATT19540EN.pdf and my testimony is on the UK Parliament's website: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmintdev/writev/402/contents.htm
The UK's Financial Reporting Council is investigating KPMG's failure to follow auditing standards. The UK replaced Andrew Mitchell as Secretary of International Development on September 4, 2012.
I commented in Behar's article in Forbes (hit expand all comments twice): http://www.forbes.com/sites/richardbehar/2012/06/27/world-bank-spins-out-of-control-corruption-dysfunction-await-new-president/