3rd Presidential debate: Romney and Obama bring it back home

The third and final presidential debate between Mitt Romney and President Obama was supposed to offer a vibrant exchange of views on America’s role and posture in the world. Instead it was notable both for agreement on key foreign conflicts and a constant drift back to domestic policy disputes.

Mitt Romney (L) and President Obama (R)

There are obvious political reasons for this. Undecided voters – if there still are any – are more likely to be influenced by plans to create jobs than strategies to stabilize Pakistan. The debate offered the candidates one last appeal to a national audience with the ballot just two weeks away.

But at a deeper level the debate underscored that the most important foreign policy differences between the two candidates have less to do with events on distant shores than priorities at home. How each would manage the economy would influence the priorities they project abroad.

The cold war, as President Obama reminded former Governor Mitt Romney during the debate is over. In its place is a tangle of more complex conflict issues: transnational terrorism, rogue states, failed states, emerging democracies, and nonstate insurgencies.

Well now it is up to voters to connect the dots. While it was the design of the debates to treat international issues separately, underscored the need to recognize domestic economic priorities and stability equally as foreign policy.
The candidates could have been bolder and clearer, but a choice exists between two paths toward economic recovery. The task is to decide which approach will promote America’s competitiveness and credibility abroad as much as its prosperity at home.

So wish them both the best of luck during the November elections!!