Romney finds grace debating – and joking – with Obama
To the extent that foreign policy determines U.S. presidential elections, the incumbent has the unique advantage of having sat in the Oval Office and Situation Room of the White House.
Except when things go wrong in the world, as they did during the hostage crisis at the U.S. Embassy in Iran, which contributed to Jimmy Carter losing the presidency to Ronald Reagan in 1980.
For Monday night’s final presidential debate, nominally about foreign policy, Barack Obama had some explaining to do about the killing of four U.S. diplomats in Libya. Was it a spontaneous mob enraged over an antiMuslim video, as first reported? Or was it a terrorist attack by al-Qaida? The date happened to be Sept. 11, an ominous anniversary when U.S. posts in the Muslim world might have been expected to be on high alert.
For Obama, the challenge was to get the story straight and move on to other foreign policy and economic issues.
For Mitt Romney, the challenge was to show that he belonged and knew what he was talking about. In other words, to look like a commander-in-chief.
It always comes down to two questions: What is America’s leadership role in the world, and how is American power projected?
Between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the fall of the Twin Towers, there was a period that could be called the Pax Americana, when the U.S. was a hyper-power. The events of 9/11 changed everything.
It would be another decade before the U.S. got Osama bin Laden, in just such a projection of its power.
“I congratulate the president on taking out bin Laden,” Romney said. It was a gracious and smart thing to say, taking bragging rights off the table.
For the rest, especially on the Middle East, Romney clearly knew his brief. American Jewish voters would be especially receptive to his unequivocal support of Israel, which is for them an existential question.
A traditionally Democratic bloc, many Jewish voters are uncomfortable with Obama. When he went to Cairo and made his f amous speech reaching out to the Muslim world, he forgot to visit Israel.
Then there’s Romney’s friendship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom Obama once kept waiting for a meeting at the White House. Bibi and Mitt are friends going way back to their days as young management consultants in Boston in the mid-1970s.
So when Romney repeated that his first foreign trip as president would be to Israel, that was music to the ears of Jewish voters, especially in Florida, where a migrating Jewish vote could prove to be the difference in a close race.
Canadians won’t be happy with Romney, since a new president’s first foreign visit is traditionally to Ottawa. But we’ll probably settle for his promise in last week’s debate that his first act as president would be to approve the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the Gulf Coast.
All in all, both candidates did what they needed to do on Monday night. They got through it, without the phony finger-pointing and countless interruptions that marred last week’s town hall encounter.
Sometimes the setting and stage make a difference in a debate, as Monday’s did, with both candidates sitting and speaking, rather than pivoting and posturing, as they did last week.
And occasionally, as at last week’s Al Smith dinner in New York, it isn’t about format or debating skills, but rather about a sense of occasion, and a sense of humour about oneself.
The dinner is chaired by the archbishop of New York on behalf of Catholic charities. It’s a white-tie affair and in presidential election years, going back to Kennedy and Nixon in 1960, and it’s customary for the two presidential candidates to show up and be funny at their own expense.
Both Obama and Romney had good nights. Obama said he felt well rested for the second debate, having slept through the first one. Romney began by saying, “It’s nice to finally relax and wear what Ann and I wear around the house.”
Or sometimes it’s about a grace moment, as in Romney’s conclusion: “Our president has had some very fine and gracious moments. Don’t tell anyone I said so, but our 44th president has many gifts and a beautiful family that would make any man proud. In our country, you can oppose someone in politics and make a confident case against their policies without any ill will. And that’s how it is for me. There is more to life than politics.”
It was a very presidential moment.