President Obama handed the debate to challenger Mitt Romney on a
silver platter, and few noticed it happening. Pundits debated the finer
points and kept count of body and face blows. They were looking for
signs of a technical knockout and missed the fact that Obama lowered his
guard for an upper cut that left him dazed on the canvass. When he was
led to his corner, he still did not know what had happened.
This was to be a debate on foreign policy – Obama’s supposed
strength. Instead, it turned into a replay of earlier debates on the
economy —Obama’s weak suit, and Obama fell into the trap.
Some trivia enthusiast needs to do a word count, but I reckon about
one quarter of the debate was on the American economy with Romney on the
attack and Obama on the defensive. The foreign policy context opened
the door: Without a strong economy, America cannot have a strong foreign
policy.
In watching focus groups after the debate, that is exactly the point
viewers took home: Obama gave us a weak economy and thus weakened us in
the international arena. Romney promises to fix our economy. He has a
plan, so it is time for a change. The message is as simple as Johnny
Cochrane’s “If the glove don’t fit, acquit:” Romney: “Weak economy
equals weak foreign policy. Fire Obama.”
In a huge tactical blunder, Obama himself interjected the economy into what was supposed to be a foreign policy debate:
go to forbes.com
An astute observation!
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