With the second presidential debate in the past, all the political junkies are gearing up for the third and final contest between President Obama and Governor Romney.  If you haven’t been keeping up with the debates until now, here is a brief summary to catch you up.  The first debate, domestic policy, was a clear win for Romney.  President Obama was unclear and seemed to be half asleep for most of the debate, which allowed for Governor Romney to take control and thoroughly dominate the conversation.  The second debate, a town hall style forum, was not as easy to call a clear winner.  Each candidate had his ups and downs and in the end the consensus was that the debate was a draw.  Now with third debate coming up this Monday, October 22, everyone is ready to see what is going to happen.  The topic for the third debate will be foreign policy.  Normally I would say that this would be the least watched debate of the three but with the performance of both men up to this point and polling numbers beginning to swing in Romney’s favor, this may end up being one of the most popular debates.

Most people that I have spoken with have told me that they are worried about Romney’s ability to debate on foreign policy and that they think it will be his weakest performance of the three, but I have a different opinion.  In the last debate, Romney attempted to highlight the Benghazi attack and the President Obama’s incompetency handling the issue in the weeks following.  Unfortunately Romney wasn’t able to address the issue as effectively as he could have.  Romney was then further hurt by the fact that the moderator, CNN’s Candy Crowley, stepped in to back of the President’s assertion that he did indeed refer to the Benghazi attack as an “act of terror” the day after.  I won’t address the issue of whether President Obama actually referred to the Benghazi attack as an act of terror, but you can read the transcript for yourself.   This is where I think that Monday’s debate comes into Romney’s favor.  Since the debate is centered on foreign policy, it will bring the Benghazi attack back into the light and force President Obama to defend his actions again.   Benghazi is only one of the current hot button issues that will be addressed during Monday’s debate.  China’s growing military presence, Iran’s nuclear capability, Israel, Syria’s rebellions and Turkey’s response, and relations Mexico, Central and South America will all likely make an appearance during the debate.  If Romney can take control of the debate and dictate the pace, like he did in the first, he will be a clear winner, but don’t expect President Obama to roll over.

President Obama will come to Monday’s debate with four years of foreign policy experience and that is nothing that Romney can deny.  As Commander in Chief, Obama will be seasoned on the issues and Romney will have his work cut out for him.  If you enjoy politics, foreign policy, or you haven’t seen any of the debates yet, I would encourage you to tune in on Monday at 9pm for the debate and get ready to see the sparks fly.

Just for fun:

http://abcnews.go.com/WNN/video/president-obama-mitt-romney-joke-al-smith-dinner-17515164