Obama v. Romney Debate Thread, Part III

[All-American]

This one promises to be the least important of the three debates. We've already seen them do this twice, and the subject matter, foreign policy, doesn't really capture the interest of most Americans. It is nevertheless the last chance for either candidate to score points on the national stage. They'll be up for this one.

Romney has to show that he has credibility in foreign policy. He may get an extra bounce tonight just from the fact that expectations are lower for him in the area of foreign policy. He wasn't able to land any punches on foreign policy in the town hall debate, and the topic didn't come up in the first debate. Romney holds serve if he can look credible.

Obama, as the incumbent, is on defense in this one. He'll be grilled even more on Libya, and Romney gave notice in the last debate that Obama's favorite retort on Romney's accusations on China could backfire (since Obama's pension has money invested in China and in the Cayman Islands). Bin Laden will come up (and it will be interesting to see how Romney responds). He will try to depict Romney as extreme and unreasonable-- an unacceptable alternative to the good-enough status quo.

Gaffes could happen, but I don't expect to see many surprises tonight. Neither will have many talking points that will resonate terrifically well with viewers and voters, or to distinguish themselves from the other candidate. My prediction is that both sides claim victory, and that snap polls will show a Romney edge that falls within the margin of error.

[All-American]

http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/22/opinio...html?hpt=hp_t2

[Moliere]

I wonder if Romney will use Bin Laden and Libya as examples where the buck only stops at the Obama presidency when it looks good politically.

[Goatnapper'96]

This one promises to be the least important of the three debates. We've already seen them do this twice, and the subject matter, foreign policy, doesn't really capture the interest of most Americans. It is nevertheless the last chance for either candidate to score points on the national stage. They'll be up for this one.

Romney has to show that he has credibility in foreign policy. He may get an extra bounce tonight just from the fact that expectations are lower for him in the area of foreign policy. He wasn't able to land any punches on foreign policy in the town hall debate, and the topic didn't come up in the first debate. Romney holds serve if he can look credible.

Obama, as the incumbent, is on defense in this one. He'll be grilled even more on Libya, and Romney gave notice in the last debate that Obama's favorite retort on Romney's accusations on China could backfire (since Obama's pension has money invested in China and in the Cayman Islands). Bin Laden will come up (and it will be interesting to see how Romney responds). He will try to depict Romney as extreme and unreasonable-- an unacceptable alternative to the good-enough status quo.

Gaffes could happen, but I don't expect to see many surprises tonight. Neither will have many talking points that will resonate terrifically well with viewers and voters, or to distinguish themselves from the other candidate. My prediction is that both sides claim victory, and that snap polls will show a Romney edge that falls within the margin of error.

Fewer will watch. Nobody will care. Pundits on both sides will declare their man the winner and the only reasonable candidate to be elected. It will have no impact and by the end of the week, unless there are huge gaffes by one side or the other, discussion about the debate will abate and all eyes and conversation will be on Ohio's needle.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

I think Romney is going to have a very good closing statement tonight. He may have kept something special for the very end.

[All-American]

I'll be interested to see how often the candidates try to steer the debate to domestic issues. Foreign and domestic policy have their obvious intersections, but you can only move so far away from the question before losing credit. Romney will hit trade agreements especially hard.

[Portland Ute]

I'll be interested to see how often the candidates try to steer the debate to domestic issues. Foreign and domestic policy have their obvious intersections, but you can only move so far away from the question before losing credit. Romney will hit trade agreements especially hard.

I'm guessing both campaigns would rather avoid the topic. Romney's not in a particularly strong position on these subjects, yet Obama would probably rather not get into the messy details of what has gone on in the middle east or meeting with celebrities instead of with Netanyahu.

I'm curious to see how Scheiffer plays this tonight. He leans liberal regardless of what he says publicly. Will he interject himself into the debate ala Crowley or let them go a bit more like in the first debate?

I'm officially drawn in completely by this election. I've got a small case of the butterflies right now just like I get when I'm walking into RES for a big game.

[Surfah]

Van Jones is an effing idiot. He just brought up climate change and said that it's something that isn't being talked about and it is probably one of the most important aspects of foreign policy because rising seas will redraw geography.

[Lost Student]

Van Jones is an effing idiot. He just brought up climate change and said that it's something that isn't being talked about and it is probably one of the most important aspects of foreign policy because rising seas will redraw geography.

lol. Van Jones is an effing comedic genius.

[All-American]

Both landed some punches in the first segment. I noticed the CNN approval ticker go a bit higher on Obama's time, particularly in his closing, but it felt pretty even to me.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

Both landed some punches in the first segment. I noticed the CNN approval ticker go a bit higher on Obama's time, particularly in his closing, but it felt pretty even to me.

Obama looked impressive but Romney weathered it. Romney wants to look like he's safe on foreign policy.

[All-American]

Obama looked impressive but Romney weathered it. Romney wants to look like he's safe on foreign policy.

Romney got in a good sound-bite in retort with that bit about attacking him not being an adequate strategy.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

A foreign policy debate this year matters as much as it did in 92, 96, 00 even with what happened in Libya.

[CJF]

Obama is more impressive so far.

[Surfah]

Obama makes it sound like Libya is our best friend.