Final Debate

Monday night’s bout between President Obama and Governor Romney would prove to be an important one for American voters. For some undecided voters foreign policy might not be an effort, but for most Americans it is. The big issue that came out of the debate on foreign policy was not necessarily different policies, but different views on leadership. The points that and attacks that each candidate brought forth were mostly centered on how the other handled certain situations. For the most part this is what foreign policy is for the president, handling situations. No candidate would say that they do not support better relations with allies, and no candidate would say that they wouldn’t take action against a national security threat. The difference is always how situations are handled. The only clear difference in policy would come from the view on troops and it appeared that for the most part the candidates agreed. At first view it seemed to me that President Obama was the winner of the debate. He was far more confident this debate than he was in his first debate and he was more composed he was in the second. Romney in all three debates has stayed consistent, but Obama is the only candidate who has previous foreign policy experience. Obama also seemed more ready to specifically attack Romney’s positions. Romney refrained from using as many specific attacks, while he did criticize the last four years as a whole. One thing that Romney did well was finding commonalities between he and the president. For many undecided voters who have heard a lot of mudslinging in the previous debates and on advertisements, hearing praise or agreement may have been a good thing. It also seemed that both candidates were trying hard to relate the debate over foreign policy to the economy. They compared the styles of leadership in foreign policy to here at home. One issue that was brought up was the disagreement over the auto industry. President Obama said that governor Romney would rather had the auto industry go broke. He said that we would be buying cars from China. This statement wasn’t entirely true according to The Washington Post fact checker, what Romney said was that he supported a managed bankruptcy. What this would do would force the auto industry to cut unnecessary spending. The connotation with bankruptcy is a negative one; however, according to Romney, in this case it would be a good thing. Romney also claimed that Obama lacked leadership by being silent about protests in the middle east; however, Obama wasn’t entirely silent only cautious at first. All in all the debate came down to which style of leadership would be best for the nation at home and abroad.