Bush signed a status of force agreement. Before Obama.
After Obama attacks Romney's foreign policy, Romney says "attacking me is not an agenda." He clarifies his Russia "geopolitical foe" comment, and says that Iran is the biggest threat. It's getting hot in here.
Did Romney really say we should still have troops in Iraq?
The first incident in which Romney called Russia the No. 1 geopolitical threat there was zero mention of Iran.
If Obama has learned you have to be clear about where you stand and what you mean, why hasn't he put that dogma into practice? He continued, for example, to blame an Internet video that few people saw for the 9/11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.
Obama is first to raise Israel. Will be interesting to see if Romney picks up on it right away.
Romney line was good: "Attacking me is not an agenda." Romney scores big by citing Obama telling Russians he will have flexibility later. Also very good on expanding focus to more global. President pivot to nation building here at home seems forced.
Heather--the office that prepared that report is in a different part of the building. Like a stopped clock, even the United Nations can be right twice in a single day.
Why is Iran the biggest national security threat to the United State? Of the scores of national security experts we interviewed for Great Decisions in Foreign Policy on PBS none saw Iran as a short term threat. Can't enrich high enough missile material and no intercontinental ballistic missile capability. A threat to Israel? Absolutely.
Obama didn't continue to blame the incident on the video. He moved past it much quicker than the right would like us to believe. That's not true.
Obama jumped in and went on a complete tangent instead of letting Romney defend himself. "We cannot put guns in hands of those that will hurt us..." Like Fast and Furious?
Obama's caution on Syria is interesting given his recklessness in Libya and Egypt and his failure to stand up for the Iranian people when they were in the streets a year before events in other countries.
President may have just walked into a trap, saying we must not give weapons to opposition hostile to us. Reports have been circulating this week that are that the administration has done just that.
Romney: Syria is Iran's only friend in the Middle East? Did something happen to Hamas and nobody told me?
Syria--Romney indicates that he understands the history of this situation far better than Obama.
Clark I think Romney could have handled the Russia line better--needed to explain the reference better.
Obama went to the United Nations and talked about the video, mentioning it six times in his speech to the General Assembly, while failing to call the attack in Benghazi terrorism.
Romney's answer on Syria is strong. He sounds credible. He's saying nothing different than Obama, but he's strong, and that's vital.
Bob Schieffer asks Obama about his policy towards Syria, where 30,000 civilians have died, 2 million are internally displaced, and 300,000 have fled to neighboring countries. Obama touts how economic sanctions and multilateral coordination have isolated Assad. Says he's "confident that Assad's days are numbered." But he and his administration has been saying that since August 2011.
I am still hoping to hear how Romney plans to regain respect from Syrians and others in the Middle East.
Romney counters that the United States needs to work with partners to identify leaders in Syrian rebels, coordinate them, and provide them with self-defense aid. Criticizes Obama for not leading by ceding effort to Kofi Annan and running U.S. policy towards Syria through Moscow.
The president has boxed himself in on Libya. Any action between now and the election will be seen, rightly in my judgment, as "wag the dog" just like it was for Bill Clinton, who blew up an asprin factor in the Sudan the day Monica Lewinsky testified before the grand jury.
Peter, Syria is a very different place than Libya. It's much more of a regional tinderbox, and we have to be much more careful about how we engage. You know that.
Peter, he called it terrorism twice the day after -- in the rose Garden and in Colorado. C'mon.
Of course the whole discussion about U.S. leadership and how much we're helping rebels, etc. involves a lot of what Don Rumsfeld would have called unknown unknowns--we in the public don't know what the United States is doing behind the scenes in terms of covert and intelligence operations or aid.
Hammas is not a friend--it's a client.
These two are a better debating pair that any I think we've ever seen. As a pair, more deeply briefed and more conversant than we've seen before, at least than I remember.
Yes, and his UN speech was less than a week after it happened. Once we got better intelligence, he moved past it. That's the problem with making foreign policy with a 24-hour new cycle. Kennedy didn't speak to America about the Cuban Missile Crisis until more than a week into the incident!
"This should have been a time for American leadership." Good observation from Romney in what is turning out to be a very technical discussion of events on the ground in Syria. In fact, Governor Romney sounds better informed about what is happening than the president does.
Note how they both talk of "leadership" - they understand what's what here.
Kofi Annan supports Obama--so does Chavez, Putin and Castro.
Thirty minutes into the debate, and Obama still hasn't mentioned that he ended the war in Iraq, took out bin Laden, and has put the U.S. on a path toward ending the war in Afghanistan by 2014. What is he waiting for?
Friend, client -- their guns still kill the same way. You know better than that.
Candidates are right to note the importance of economic development as key to long-term stability in Middle East. This is particularly true in Egypt, where foreign assistance and clearly communicated "red lines" can play an important role in shaping Egypt's future and ensuring America's regional interests.
Entrepreneurship conferences? Good, lets teach the Muslim Brotherhood how to make money!
That sound you hear is millions of Americans clicking over to Monday Night Football.
Wow, Boris, playing the Castro card and we're barely a third of the way through. Is Romney doing that badly?
So why, Mitt, do you want to add $2 billion to defense spending?
And, thirty minutes in, I'm shocked that Romney hasn't pivoted back at all to his message on jobs and the economy -- which is his only strength in this race, and the only thing that will win Ohio for him.
President pivoting to home and oil again setting a trap for himself. A debate on oil development at home and a strong economy at home is playing to his own weaknesses.
Heather--he referred to "Acts of terrorism" including the 9/11 attack in the Rose Garden. He was clearly trying to avoid calling it was it was--as he has with the attack at Ft. Hood--but left in enough wiggle room that he could point to it if he was called on it. His is the administration that took the words "war on terror" out of the government's official lexicon. He did not want to call Benghazi terrorism until he absolutely had to--he simply wanted to attack Romney for the governor's condemnation of the U.S. Embassy in Egypt's response to the Cairo riot.
Clark, oil development at home is only a weakness for Obama if you believe Romney's line of attack. And it's just not true.
No, Robert, was just responding to Heather bringing up Kofi and pointing out that foreign dignitaries should not have too much of a voice in our elections.
If Obama has learned you have to be clear about where you stand and what you mean, why hasn't he put that dogma into practice? He continued, for example, to blame an Internet video that few people saw for the 9/11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.
Romney line was good: "Attacking me is not an agenda." Romney scores big by citing Obama telling Russians he will have flexibility later. Also very good on expanding focus to more global. President pivot to nation building here at home seems forced.
Why is Iran the biggest national security threat to the United State? Of the scores of national security experts we interviewed for Great Decisions in Foreign Policy on PBS none saw Iran as a short term threat. Can't enrich high enough missile material and no intercontinental ballistic missile capability. A threat to Israel? Absolutely.
Candidates are right to note the importance of economic development as key to long-term stability in Middle East. This is particularly true in Egypt, where foreign assistance and clearly communicated "red lines" can play an important role in shaping Egypt's future and ensuring America's regional interests.