Tuesday, October 23, 2012

20 Tweets From the Presidential Debate on Foreign Policy

Well, that was really something fellas.

Several things were made clear to me during last night’s final Presidential debate that focused on foreign policy.

The first is that I don’t trust Mitt Romney with the command of the most powerful military in the world. The second is that he clearly understood that the American electorate has made foreign policy a second-class issue this election despite our continued loss of blood and treasure overseas. He played not to lose the debate, and in doing so probably gave himself a chance of winning on Nov. 6.

One of my favorite Internet memes from last night's debate.
I also learned the President will not be challenged on his use of deadly UVA attacks that wipe out terrorists and civilians alike anytime soon. Bob Schieffer or Romney could have at least pressed him on the policies that are involved in making the decision to use that force, but that would have required both men to be conscious. I know drones are popular with the public because it reduces our casualties, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be questioned and made more transparent. I haven’t made up my mind on this issue, so it would have been nice to hear some discussion about it. For those of you interested in more information on that topic, check out Esquire’s Lethal Presidency series.

Last night’s debate also kept bringing me back to a theme my younger brother—who serves in the U.S. Air Force—has been talking about for months now. For the first time in 80 years, we have two Presidential candidates—and two Vice-Presidential candidates—who never served in the military. While they were discussing broad foreign policy initiatives, I couldn’t escape the feeling that they didn’t have a complete understanding of what they would mean for our servicemen and women (even factoring in Obama’s experience as commander-in-chief). There wasn’t a whole lot of discussion on what budget cuts and potential crises were going to mean to military personnel and their families. That’s a failure on the part of both candidates and something we all should be ashamed of for not making it apart of our national discussion.

While you’re making up your mind on who to vote for, check out some of the best reactions to the debate on Twitter last night:





















3 comments:

  1. Awesome ... here were my faves:

    Bill Maher @billmaher
    You're losing, Mitt - bring up the fact that we have fewer knives and rocks than we did during the French and Indian War

    Bill Maher @billmaher
    OK Mitt, one more try: we have fewer catapults and barrels of boiling oil than we had in the crusades.

    Bill Maher @billmaher
    OK, one last try: We have fewer Andrews Sisters and Ritz Brothers than we did in 1944. So glad we're done with THAT!

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    Replies
    1. I enjoyed all of Bill Maher's tweets last night. Being a history guy, all these historical references made me smile.

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  2. We should read these messages more often.
    Indian adult

    ReplyDelete