Ruth's Real-Time Notes: Debate 3

Foreign policy

by Ruth A. Sheets

1. In his first statement, Romney said “We can’t kill our way out of our problems with Al Qaida.  We need a comprehensive strategy.

2. Obama reiterated his position mentioning his major foreign policy operations.

3. Romney answered back that his strategy in the Middle East is straight-forward.  He said we should go after the bad guys, the ones who attacked us.  He said we have to get the Arabs to fix things themselves by giving them better education, rule of law, of course, our law,

4. President Obama called Romney on his flip-flopping.  Romney answered back that that “attacking me is not a policy”, whatever that means.

5. Romney, when called on his statement that we should still have troops in Iraq, he tried to say he didn’t say that.

6. Obama says he wants our allies to help us in our efforts against terrorism and has a set of 5 things he would do for the countries in the Middle East, but warned that we should not be too involved with nation building until we have done nation building in America.

7. To a question about Syria, Obama said that we have to do what we do with the help of the rest of the region.  We are helping the opposition, but we have to know that it is a serious step to get more involved militarily in Syria.

8. Romney mentioned how important Syria is in the region.  The right course, according to him, is the same as Obama’s, enlist the help of the other nations in the area, making sure that they have sufficient arms to do the job.  We have to have a “very effective leadership effort in Syria.”  He believes that President Asaad will leave eventually.  He says it is a critical opportunity for America, but is vague as to what that role is.  We are to have the leadership role, but he is not clear what that is.

9. Obama answered that we have to be careful about our choices, as we were in Libya.  We have to have steady, thoughtful leadership when we act in Syria.

10. Romney says he does not want to have a “no fly zone” over Syria because he doesn’t want us to be militarily involved in Syria.  He wants us to arm the opposition in Syria.  He claims we should have taken some kind of super leadership role in responding to Syria.

11. Obama says that the reason he and Romney are both on the same page related to Syria is that we are doing just what we should be doing, taking a thoughtful careful approach to the problem.  We need to encourage and even pressure Egypt  to protect minorities and women.  We need to help Egypt to develop their economy.  The youth of Egypt have similar aspirations to American youth and we have to help them give their own people the hope for a non-corrupt government and economy.

12.Romney says he wishes we had a broader vision for what happened and the future of the Middle East before it exploded.  He is not clear what that means.  He says that we want a world at peace.  He thinks it is America’s job to promote peace.  He brought the discussion back to what he claims is a weak economy that means a weak country.  He just keeps saying the same things.  He wants an even bigger military.  He thinks that without their huge budget, our military will not be able to promote peace as well as we want.  (What a bunch of bull.)

13. Romney had the next question too, what is America’s role in the world?  He says we need to end conflicts in the world and so America must be strong, must strengthen our economy at home, and not have kids coming out of college with no jobs.  He went back to the military and how they need to be stronger (interesting that only a huge strong military can bring about peace in the world - NONSENSE!!)  Then he went into something weird about Poland.  I am not even sure what that was about.  He said we must stand for our principles.

14. Finally, Obama got a chance to respond.  He said that we as a nation are stronger now than when he took office.  He, too, brings the debate back to American jobs, economy, energy, etc.  They really don’t want to talk about the rest of the world. 

15. Romney responds, and we got his first sneer that was audible.  He keeps claiming that he knows how to get us back to work.  He claims he will increase our energy so that we will be energy independent.  He wants to focus on Latin America.  Then he wants to have training programs, then blames the teachers again and wants to get rid of teacher unions.  What a bunch of bunk!  He wants to “champion small business.”  He claims that small businesses are at their lowest point in 30 years.  He does not say where he got that data.

16. Obama responded by giving some specifics of what he will do the second term. He says that Romney should ask teachers what they need to make things better.  I am sure Romney thinks that’s a joke.

17. Romney, after trying to ignore his time as governor of Mass. now claims how proud he is of his time as governor and how well his students there did on the tests, as if that is all that counts in education.

18. When asked how he will afford a continued high cost of the military.  He goes on saying he will cut discretionary spending, cut Obamacare, etc, but never really addresses the fact that the military is bloated.  He wants to save Medicaid and give it to the states who have somehow proven they can handle it better than the federal government.  There is no evidence of that, however.

19. Obama mentioned that our military is larger than the next 10 countries combined. I think it is actually more like 17, but let that be.

20. Romney claims that he always balanced his budgets.  We don’t know what that means.  He says he will always balance the budget, but that shows he has no idea what a Federal budget involves.  He then claims that our Navy is the smallest it has been since World War I.  He does not take into account that the new weaponry and ships mean that we don’t need as large a military force.

21. Obama mentioned that even though the Navy is smaller in actual number of ships, our ships are better.   He said we also have fewer horses and bayonets than we had back then too because the technology has improved.

22. Israel and Iran – Would either candidate consider an attack on Israel an attack on the United States?

23. Obama began by saying that Israel is our greatest ally.  We have a strong military and intelligence connection with Israel .  He reiterated that Iran will not get a nuclear weapon while he is president.  He mentioned that the Iranian economy is a shambles and we will help to keep there from being a nuclear race in that part of the world.  The sanctions offer Iran a way out, stop the nuclear move or face a world against them.  Sending young people into harm’s way should be a last resort.

24. Nuclear-capable Iran is not acceptable, says Romney.  He says our mission in Iran is to use a diplomatic way.  Even tighter sanctions, he says would work harder.  He thinks there should be diplomatic sanctions and we should treat their diplomats badly.  He says he thinks a military intervention would be the last resort if everything else fails.  How that is different from Obama’s strategy, I can’t see.

25. The deal we’ll accept, according to Obama, is ending nuclear aspirations.  Obama mentioned that we had to get the sanctions against Iran to be agreed to by most of the countries of the world before getting started.  The hope is that Iran will want to regain credibility.  We will not allow Iran to engage in negotiations that lead nowhere.

26. Romney claims that Iran looked at the Obama administration and thought it was weak and they could get away with things.  He criticizes Obama for his “apology tour” which has already been determined to be a “pants on fire”  lie.  He says that from the very beginning that a president must show strength (while he sounds like a wimpy kid/ bully who has no real idea of what is going on).

27. Obama called Romney on the lie, a whopper that he had taken any kind of “apology tour.”  Obama  mentioned that he had called the Iranians on their behavior.  He says we will continue to keep the pressure on Iran.

28. Romney says we are four years closer to a nuclear war with Iran.  He continues to lie and defend his lies, trying to explain them. 

29. Obama says he wants us to be able to be called the nation that stands on the right side of history.

30 Romney refused to answer a hypothetical question about bombing in the Middle East.  He just went his own way calling out disasters in the world that he really clearly does not understand, but is just naming, North Korea, 30,000 dead in Syria, etc.

31. It is hard to debate with Romney because he just keeps throwing things out.  His plans, although numbered, don’t give any details. 

32. Obama brought out the Bin Laden card.  He mentioned that when such hard decisions are made, there must be a purpose, even if the decisions are not popular.

33. Romney is asked what happens if Afghanistan is not ready to be left by the American military.  Romney says that we will be ready and that our troops will come home.  He admitted that what is happening in Pakistan is going to affect what is going on in that region and how we should respond to it.  He mentions Pakistan, but doesn’t have any concrete plan for what to do there.  He sais we should rebuild our relationship there and that we will have to meet certain benchmarks.

34. Obama mentioned that by 2008, America had forgotten why we were in Afghanistan.  He said that our coalition partners will be moving out responsibly.  He talked about the veterans of the wars and what we have to do to help them to get jobs and get their lives back.

35. Pakistan is a country of problems and a problem relationship with America.  Romney says that we have to support them because they have over 100 nuclear warheads.  He says that if the government there falls apart, terrorists can grab the weapons and use them at will.  He says we are going to have to work with Pakistan to keep the Taliban from rushing back on when we leave Afghanistan.  Romney says that drones are OK because we should any and all means necessary to go after threats to America.  He says we are going to have to do more than just go after bad guys.  We have to move the world away from terrorism.  Romney asks a bunch of stupid questions that he says will lead to peace in our world.

37. Obama says we have done a lot more than just go after the “bad guys.”  We also have worked on making alliances, talking with the protesters in the Middle East.  We stood on the side of the people.  There will always be elements in those countries that will hate America, but we are working to lessen their influence.

38. The program moves to China.  Obama says that terrorist networks will be our greatest threat.  China can be a threat, but it could also be a great partner if it follows the rules.  Obama talked about some of the cases won against China related to trade.  He thinks we should be making more investments in relationship to China.

39. Romney says that China does not want protectionism.  They want a stable world and economy.  They want the world to be free and open.  He says they look at us and say how strong are we and can they depend on us.  He asks these questions, putting words in the mouth of China and claims that he would be “very strong” if he were president.  He does not say how, of course, but I guess that doesn’t matter.  On day one, he is going to label them . . . ., same old, same old.  No different from what Obama says, except for the first day junk.  When asked if this would bring about a trade war, he said no, but with little to support it.

40. Obama talked about jobs and our relationship with China.  Our exports to China have increased.  We are increasing our military presence in the Pacific to remind China and other countries that we care what happens in that part of the world and that we can apply some pressure.

41. Romney is starting to stutter as he pulls out his old line about Obama criticizing him not being a policy.  What nonsense!   Again, he claims he didn’t say let the auto industry go to the bottom if that is what would happen in the free market.  He is so against government investment in companies.  He is a fool and just saying anything that comes to his mouth, again.  I know a lot of people just love that, but it is hogwash.

41. Obama tried to respond to Romney, but you can’t really get information out there when your opponent just makes up anything.  Then, Romney goes back to the old data crap that can’t be challenged.  Then Romney says he loves teachers whatever that means.

 42. Obama described the four years of digging out of the terrible policies of the past and points out that Romney wants to take America back to where we were with the same old policies.  Obama wants to invest in jobs, education, and developing energy sources, a breadth of sources.  He says he will maintain a strong but reasonable military.  We need nation building.  He mentioned that we have character and will work to keep America the greatest nation on earth.

43. Romney claims that he wants to work for peace.  He claims that Obama will take America toward where Greece is (ridiculous!)  He claims that he will make 12 million jobs, but never says how he will do that.  He again goes through that bull crap about bipartisanship.  He has no idea of what that actually means, except everybody has to do things his way.  What a load of crap.  He is talking about a torch of freedom and that he will be “that leader” and will lead in an open honest way.  Pathetic!  A liar claiming to be an honest leader.