While watching this year's third and final Presidential debate last night, I was repeatedly struck by how often Governor Romney agreed with The President. Obama took advantage of the situation, repeatedly emphasizing Romney's endorsements of the incumbent's policies and past actions. At one point, while responding to Mr. Obama's comments about managing the crisis in Syria, Mr. Romney very nearly parroted the President. It was actually uncomfortable to watch. I was not the only one who noticed.
Frederick Allen of Forbes felt that Romney was disadvantaged by having to repeatedly agree with the President's handling of various foreign policy matters. Michael Crowley of Time's Swampland observed the Governor's "constant endorsements of Barack Obama's policies." Bloomberg's Julie Hirschfield Davis and Indira A.R. Lakshmanan noted that the President kept Mr. Romney "on the defensive on foreign policy...as his Republican rival worked to criticize the incumbent's leadership while endorsing most major actions he has taken." Jennifer Epstein of Politico starts her blog by saying that the candidates "spent most of Monday night disagreeing with one another during the...debate," but then spent the remainder of her article discussing all the examples of Romney's agreement with the President. Both Epstein and Huffington Post's Ryan Grim and Joshua Hersh share that former Fox news commentator Glenn Beck tweeted, "I'm glad to know Mitt agrees with Obama so much. No, really. Why vote?"
The general feeling seems to be that Romney failed to distinguish himself from the President in matters of foreign policy. It's no wonder he tries, at every turn, to bring the focus back to the economy.
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