Disagreements over foreign policy turned into pointed jabs early in the third
and final presidential debate Monday at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla.
The debate between President Barack Obama and his Republican rival,
former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, focused on foreign policy issues
including the Middle East, events in Syria and Libya and the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
Obama said Romney identified Russia as the worst geopolitical threat
facing the United States, rather than al-Qaida.
"The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because
the Cold War has been over for 20 years," Obama said. "Every time you've
offered an opinion, you've been wrong."
Romney countered by telling the President that he identified Russia as a
geopolitical threat, but Iran as the worst national security threat and that
he wouldn't view Russia through "rose-colored glasses."
He referenced the President's comments to former Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev, which were private but caught by microphones, that he would have
more flexibility on the issue of missile defense after the election.
"I'm certainly not going to tell (Russian President Vladimir Putin) that
I'm going to have more flexibility after the election," Romney said. "I'm
going to tell him that he's going to get more backbone."
Obama criticized many of Romney's stated positions, saying the former
Massachusetts governor has never "had the chance" to serve as
commander-in-chief. Romney countered by saying that Obama doesn't have
concrete plans.
"Attacking me is not an agenda," Romney said. "Attacking me is not
talking about how we're dealing with the challenges that exist in the Middle
East and taking advantage of the opportunities there and stemming the tide of
violence."
The stakes were high in the 90-minute encounter moderated by CBS News'
Bob Schieffer.
The two candidates were tied at 46 percent each in the Reuters/Ipsos
online daily tracking poll. Other surveys show a similar picture.
Some quotes from Monday night's debate:
-- Romney on Islamist extremism: "We can't kill our way out of this mess.
We're going to have to put in place a very comprehensive and robust strategy
to help the world of Islam and other parts of the world to reject this radical
violent extremism."
"The key that we're going to have to pursue as a pathway is to get the
Muslim world to be able reject extremism on its own."
-- Obama on Romney's policies: "When it comes to our foreign policy, you
seem to want to import the foreign policies of the 1980s, just like the social
policies of the 1950s and the economic policies of the 1920s."
"What we need to do with respect to the Middle East is strong and steady
leadership, not wrong and reckless leadership that is all over the map, and
unfortunately that's the kind of opinions that you've offered throughout the
campaign and it is not a recipe for American strength."
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
