Commentators Weigh In on Foreign Policy Debate

Photo Credit: Richard Perry/The New York Times

Last night’s foreign policy debate between President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney focused on numerous Middle East foreign policy issues, including Libya, Syria, Israel, Iran, and the U.S. approach to the Arab Spring. Both contenders agreed that a nuclear-armed Iran was not an option: Romney said “the greatest national security threat is a nuclear Iran” and Obama declared ”as long as I’m president of the United States Iran will not get a nuclear weapon.” The topic of conversation often turned back to domestic policy, as Obama claimed that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have taken resources away from domestic concerns and Romney argued that promoting “principles of peace” abroad “begins with a strong economy here at home.” As Spencer Ackerman put it in Wired, “voters were treated to the curious sight of Romney explicitly endorsing several aspects of Obama’s agenda.”

“Romney’s foreign policy ideas seemed to include a strong dose of ‘me too,’” Jim Picht said in the Washington Times. “There was no mention, let alone discussion, of the role of Turkey it its dilemma as a Muslim nation sharing a border with Syria,” Steven Erlanger wrote in the New York Times. “Neither candidate articulated a clear policy towards post-Mubarak Egypt,” Eric Trager lamented in The Atlantic. “Both candidates could have benefited from explaining how they would..[pursue] interests [in Egypt],” Trager continued. “The candidates mentioned Israel 31 times … but the Israel-Palestinian peace process was barely mentioned last night,” Max Fisher noted in the Washington Post. Josh Hersh and Ryan Grim of the Huffington Post concluded, ”If Monday night’s debate proved anything, it showed that when it comes to drone strikes, the war in Afghanistan, relations with Pakistan, the intervention in Libya, support for Israel or for ‘crippling sanctions’ on Iran, there is little difference between the two parties.”