Obama bagged it again
24 October 2012 06:30 pm
BARACK OBAMA won the third and final presidential debate hands down. The US president was at his best as he tested the skills of his Republican rival.
Obama remained calm and cautious in response to Mitt Romney’s observations and sporadic allegations, and in fact, the governor of Massachusetts himself caved in like a house of cards. Romney’s biggest problem on the fateful night seemed to be that he agreed to almost all of the crucial assessments Obama made on foreign relations, and could not fire back with a valid counterpoint. The GOP candidate was also seen going back on his pledges and earlier assessments, since he refused to acknowledge Russia as the number one threat to US security and agreed with Obama that Al Qaeda is in need of being exterminated with full might. Similarly, Romney gave Obama full marks for killing Osama bin Laden, and didn’t even remember to bring up the Benghazi killings — an issue he had vociferously raised during the previous two debates. Moreover, by giving support to many of the administration’s responses to the Arab Spring, Iran and China, Romney — as aptly stated by a Fox News analyst — rendered his leadership calibre secondary to the incumbent in the White House.
With some of the best lines and assurances, Obama stands a fair chance of bagging a second-term in office. Exit polls put him in the safe territory of 56 per cent, with Romney trailing at a maximum of 40 per cent. But one thing is clear: Obama made a conscious attempt to reach out to the undecided voters as he called Romney’s bluff on critical issues of foreign and domestic policies. It was Romney’s inconsistency that made him lose the third encounter — which might also cost him the coveted presidential office.
Irrespective of the fact that the debate was centred on foreign policy, apt references to the state of economy and a number of social issues made it quite clear that they can’t be backburner subjects. If televised debates are the criterion for judgment, Obama is already home. But as they say, there’s many a slip between the cup and the lip, between now and November 6, and indications are that this election is going to be a nail-biter.
Khaleej Times