You know, if we're going to talk about trips that we've taken, you know, when I was a candidate for office, first trip I took was to visit our troops.

And when I went to Israel as a candidate, I didn't take donors, I didn't attend fundraisers, I went to Yad Vashem, the -- the Holocaust museum there, to remind myself the -- the nature of evil and why our bond with Israel will be unbreakable.

And then I went down to the border towns of Sderot, which had experienced missiles raining down from Hamas. And I saw families there who showed me where missiles had come down near their children's bedrooms, and I was reminded of -- of what that would mean if those were my kids, which is why, as president, we funded an Iron Dome program to stop those missiles.

So that's how I've used my travels when I travel to Israel and when I travel to the region.

And the central question at this point is going to be, who's going to be credible to all parties involved?

And they can look at my track record -- whether it's Iran sanctions, whether it's dealing with counterterrorism, whether it's supporting democracy, whether it's supporting women's rights, whether it's supporting religious minorities -- and they can say that the president of the United States and the United States of America has stood on the right side of history. And -- and that kind of credibility is precisely why we've been able to show leadership on a wide range of issues facing the world right now.

This morning, the Romney foreign policy campaign team, a collection of retreads from the disastrous George W. Bush foreign policy apparatus, released this campaign memo. As I scanned through it, I noticed something peculiar--there were more than a few words missing from it--words like terror, Iraq, al Qaeda, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria and, yes, Osama bin Laden. Maybe that's because Mitt Romney said if he were president he would not have made the call President Barack Obama made to kill or capture Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. Romney would have asked Pakistan for a permission slip[.]

Mitt Romney has nothing really coherent or substantive to say about domestic policy, but at least he can sound energetic and confident about it. On foreign policy, the subject of Monday night's final presidential debate, he had little coherent to say and often sounded completely lost.

A little reminder for Mitt, since he can't seem too come up with the name of "his state"

They were worried about the embassy.  They wanted enough troops there to protect the embassy.  Having any troops in Iraq was inflaming Moqtada al-Sadr and his extensive group of loyalists though.  So our embassy is protected by contractors, and the troops that many say should be in Iraq are sitting in Kuwait.

There is a lot to be said for having troops so close by.  If an emergency situation arises and the Iraqi government is placed in jeopardy those troops are right there.  Would our President send them in? That is a difficult question that everyone who could attempt to overthrow the sovereign Iraqi government has to ask themselves.

It is in my mind the most appropriate leverage that our President could provide in attempting to stabilize an Iraq that George W Bush destabilized and broke.

I hear Morning Joe talk a lot about how the Middle East is a destabilized mess but I don't hear anything about how it got that way.  The economic disparity of the Middle East got to the breaking point during the global economic crash when many people couldn't seem to live anymore.  There was another item that destablized parts of it and that was what we did to Iraq.

His debate goal appears to have been  to market the new and improved Romney  so that if you like Obama's foreign policy, you will love  his. It will be the same or a little different one way or another.  In any event, Romney wants to portray himself as non-threatening in that department, contrary to any previous warmongering and brinksmanship statements. He left the bombs home last night, and borrowed some dove feathers (he is big on birds).

Romney seemed so uncomfortable as" Mitt of the Moment " that he was wringing wet, no doubt needing a quick change of perspiration-soaked magic underwear.   His discomfort stemming, most likely, not from being a danger to our national security, but to the rathe he might bring on himself from the neocons.
That pesky foreign stuff out of the way, he just returned to  his talking points about the economy--government does not create jobs, but if you elect Romney head of the government he  will create millions of jobs.   The election is close and Slado you may be right about the outcome, but in my view, you can stick a bayonet in him, he is done.

The vast majority of the most consequential foreign policy matters (along with the world's nations) were completely ignored in lieu of their same repetitive slogans on the economy. When they did get near foreign policy, it was to embrace the fundamentals of each other's positions and, at most, bicker on the margin over campaign rhetoric.

Numerous foreign policy analysts, commentators and journalists published lists of foreign policy questions they wanted to hear asked and answered at this debate. Almost none was raised. In sum, it was a perfect microcosm of America's political culture."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/22/foreign-policy-presidential-debate

Oh, well, this is what we get when you don't have publically financed elections and your debates are taken over from independent organizations by an organ of the two parties and their sponsors. It's kind of sad that I look back at the political climate from the 80's and early to mid 90's with nostalgia for its relative openness to actual debate and "intellectual heft".

And in being so ill informed, likely doesn't wish to be a wonk of any sort on the subject. Looking at those who sit around him that he would hand such things off to.....he is really dangerous as hell as a President given the present global condition.

Romney played it safe because he has the momentum.

Obama lies about Auto Bailout, Iraq and bayonets.

Obamabots think he won.  Romneybots think he won and Obama wins the top poll while loosing all the incidentals underneath.

Obama's closing remarks where terrible.  He is tired of campaigning and it shows.  He can't believe how close this thing is and with two weeks to go I have a suspicion this thing is going to break Romney's way at the end.

Romney cleared the acceptable hurdle.   If you're tired of Obama (53% of the country is) then Romney is the acceptable replacement.