A staff writer’s semi-biased take on the debate

Dictionary.com defines a debate as a discussion, as of a public question in an assembly, involving opposing viewpoints.

Your humble narrator defines the Oct. 22 foreign policy debate as a discussion, on national television in which two candidates manage to completely agree with each other on foreign matters and still find ways to bash each other for an hour and a half.

This was the nature of Monday’s debate.

Polls may swing one way or another in regards to who really won last night’s debate. Style-wise both candidates kept reasonably cool, a drastic change from the last debate. But as far as content, both candidates lost.

Governor Romney just restated foreign policy positions that are already in place in the current administration. He failed to point out any significant changes he would institute abroad besides the ones we have already been told time and time again.

The fact is, both candidates know that foreign policy doesn’t win elections. Joe and Jill Everyman aren’t as concerned with the Syrian revolution as they are with domestic issues.

So that’s why Romney and Obama took every opening they could to emphasize their economic plans.

Perhaps, more-so Romney considering he agrees with almost everything the president is doing abroad, he just isn’t supposed to act like it.

In some cases he actually praised the president. He commemorated the killing of Osama Bin Laden, and he came out as a bona-fide certified supporter of drone strikes.

Romney also emphasized how Obama’s foreign policy is projecting weakness abroad. He pointed to the president’s apology tour, in which the president toured the Middle East and met with their leaders.

I’m looking forward to Romney’s “No Apologies” book tour; let’s see how that one pans out in the Middle East.

Obama also reiterated his domestic policy over his foreign policy at any given opportunity. Obama worked in the same lines we’ve heard for the last couple months, but to be fair they both did.

If you paid attention very closely you would have seen Obama’s pink banded wrist. Knit-picky stuff, but Romney wasn’t wearing a breast cancer band. Let the record state: Romney cares about fighting breast cancer just as much as the president does … as long as Planned Parenthood isn’t involved.

Obama slammed Romney for his investments in Chinese companies. That’s a pretty low-blow considering everybody making as much money as Romney invests in Chinese companies.

Obama stepped forward as the auto industry’s savior, and attempted to paint Romney as the Grinch of Chryslerville and he did his best to convince voters that Romney is a flip-flopper on the issues. But I’m sort of disappointed he didn’t diagnose the governor with Romneisa. Oh well.

The debates are finally over. Romney may have come out a bit ahead considering his momentum probably wasn’t stymied by the president’s performance last night. But I’ll call it a tie-ish. Obama had a few pretty good zingers. Nothing like Biden’s “malarkey” but that’s okay.

So the final debate score is:

Romney – 1

Obama – 1

Neither – 1

Now it’s up to you, the voters of this great nation. So let me say something neither of the candidates can: go effing vote.

Story by Christian Zerbel