Taka’s Liveblog: Foreign Policy Debate
Let’s go! Live from Boca Raton, we’re off with the final Presidential Debate.
9:26 CST Romney: Obama is not investing in research. He’s investing in companies. Obama: That’s rich coming from someone who invests in companies shipping jobs overseas.
9:22 CST Obama: We have to invest in education and technology startups and clean energy to stay ahead of China. There is where the government has to help.
9:17 CST China. How do we stand our ground? Really: what’s the role of government to actively stop Chinese economic competition? This puts Romney in a weird place because it pits his belief in free market against American protectionism.
9:12 CST Drones. Gah Stop avoiding the question!
9:04 CST Good policy question. If 2014 rolls around and Agfhan forces are not ready to take over their own security, what do we do? Romney: Pakistan is key. Obama: there’s no reason for Americans to keep dying in Afghanistan. On that note, we have to take care of our veterans. Something that we’ve heard from Obama a few times over these debate, but hasn’t been capitalized on.
8:56 CST Obama: Romney’s a fool. He’s inconsistent, and he supports my actions when he opposed them before.
8:49 CST Moderator putting Obama on the spot a bit, asking him what the supposedly agreed-upon talks with Iran would be about. Not cool, yo. Do you really think he’s gonna respond straightforwardly? He does suggest that Iran would be gradually normalized once they take credible steps.
8:45 CST Finally, Foreign Policy. How far will you go to defend Israel, “our closest friend”? Obama–we’ve taken the most steps to standing by Israel in my presidency. RED LINES are drawn with Iran!
8:36 CST Wait, this is foreign policy right? Like, actually, we’ve spent 10 minutes on domestic economy and education and Obamacare. Did the moderator die or something, he’s literally had no presence in the debate.
8:34 CST Romney keeps on trying to bring it back to the American economy.
8:27 CST Romney: American strength=American military hegemony=military budgets. Don’t know about that. Romney’s trying to bring it all back to economy, and that’s the best tool he has against Obama/differentiating himself from Obama.
8:23 CST Obama–I like that Romney agrees. That means I know what doin’. In general, we have to encourage the development of civil society in these new Middle Eastern democracies. Ultimately, America’s role is to uphold democracy.
8:19 CST Syria–Obama states that we have to be very careful who we work with in Syria. We don’t want another Afghanistan. It is important that we arm the right people so they can defend themselves. Romney hits on the fact that this is a great opportunity for American interests in the Middle East. We have to be leaders. They’re kinda saying the same thing.
8:14 CST Romney says he’s going to go after the bad guys, Obama states that military force is insufficient to make friends in the Middle East.
8:10 CST Obama: Romney you’re a 1950’s throwback! Wtf, Russia? You have no consistent foreign policy plan. If Obama’s smart, he’ll contrast his own solid policy experience with Romney’s inconsistency.
8:05 CST Romney’s started us off with the usual accusations against Obama in the Middle East. He acknowledges that Al-Qaeda is THE enemy.