President Obama and Mitt Romney will debate Monday for the final time, dueling over foreign policy — an area that was supposed to be a slam dunk for Obama.
After all, he was the President who ended the deeply unpopular Iraq war, hunted down Osama Bin Laden and began the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
But last month's attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, has changed everything — giving Romney a chance to emerge with a crucial victory just two weeks before the election.
"The Libya incident reminded Americans that we still live in a dangerous world," said Prof. Wendy Schiller of Brown University.
"And because the administration has not been clear about what happened, it engendered some doubt about Obama."
Romney, his running mate and Republicans on Capitol Hill have been hammering the President over the attack, using it to seed doubts about Obama's handling of foreign affairs and his skills as a crisis manager.
Again and again, Romney's running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), has declared that Obama's foreign policy is "unraveling."
Obama still holds a 47%-to-43% Pew poll lead over Romney on who would do a better job on foreign policy — but the President's support has dropped 15 points since the attack.
Although Obama got the better of the Libya exchange in the last debate, Republicans will not concede the issue.
"Romney can poke holes in what happened at Libya and you can be certain that he will claim that Obama has not been a great friend to Israel," said Schiller.
The threat of a nuclear-armed Iran is also certain to come up during the debate — against the backdrop of conflicting reports this weekend about whether the Obama administration has agreed to one-on-one talks with Tehran in a last-ditch effort to forge a nonmilitary solution.
Presidents running for reelection often have an inherent advantage on international affairs, since the incumbent has spent four years on the world stage.
Initially, that was true for Obama, especially in the area of national security, a rare advantage for a Democrat.
"Obama has a greater depth of knowledge on foreign policy and national security," said Cal Jillson of Southern Methodist University. "If he can boil that down into some memorable and convincing arguments, he'll be well-served."
Pundits expect Obama to double-down on the aggressive stance that seemed to give him a win during last week's debate.
"I think he is going to take that air of very serious, very tough," said Schiller. "He has been a tough commander in chief, and he'll push that."
More than 65 million people tuned in for each of the first two debates, and a similar crowd is expected watch Monday's Boca Raton, Fla., showdown, though some viewers may opt for "Monday Night Football" instead. Obama will likely try to forcefully remind viewers that Romney has little foreign policy experience and that the ex-Massachusetts governor's overseas trip this summer resulted in several blunders.
"Obama will also tie Romney to (former President George W.) Bush as much as he can and warn that, 'Hey, this guy might take you to war with Iran or Syria,' " Schiller said.
Romney, who seemed rattled when pushed by Obama in their second debate at Hofstra University, will need to better handle those jabs, his team admitted. "He was bad," a senior Romney counselor said. "He let Obama get away with it. That won't happen again. We're going to litigate Libya out, and that won't inure to Obama's benefit.
"Obama has an edge on paper going in, but he can't spend an hour and a half bragging about Bin Laden," he added.
Both teams are plotting ways to connect foreign policy with domestic economic themes, according to campaign sources.
Romney will argue that Obama's trade policies have damaged American consumers and the economic recovery. Obama will point out that dialing down on wars frees up billions of dollars to spend at home and speed the recovery.
jlemire@nydailynews.com
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario