Final Obama-Romney debate to focus on Iran, Israel and Libya
Polls show president, Republican candidate tied just over two weeks before US election; third and final debate in Florida to focus on Iran nuclear crisis, Obama's relations with Netanyahu government and deadly attack on US consulate in Benghazi
WASHINGTON – The average American voter is more interested in the ailing economy, the immigration policy and the issue of abortion than in foreign policy. However, the final debate on Monday between Republican candidate Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama, who are tied at 47% support each among likely voters with just over two weeks to go before the US presidential election, will focus, among other things, on the Iranian nuclear crisis, the deadly attack on the US consulate in Benghazi and Israel.
According to recent polls, Obama still has an advantage in the so-called "swing states."
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The Republicans have accused Obama of deteriorating US-Israeli relations over the disagreement on the red line that should be set for Iran's nuclear program and the negations with the Palestinians.
The Republicans have also accused Obama of failing to realize immediately that the terror attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya was premeditated and not a spontaneous reaction to an anti-Islam film that sparked Muslim riots worldwide.
Obama insisted that he had called the assault an act of terror, but the CIA issued a report confirming that four days after the attack, he still believed it was spontaneous.
A Republican congressmen recently published memos sent by Ambassador Chris Stevens, who was killed in the attack, in which he asked the State Department to increase security around American diplomats in Libya.
Obama, on his part, will most likely focus on his decision to withdraw American troops from Iraq and set a timetable for a pullout from Afghanistan (set for 2014). He will also stress the fight against global terror, including the killing of Osama bin Laden and other top al-Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan in Yemen.
Romney, on the other hand, may have to answer questions about his failed trip to Europe and Israel last July. The former Massachusetts governor managed to insult the British when he said London was not prepared to host the Olympic Games. He also infuriated the Palestinians when he told Jewish donors that their culture is part of what has allowed them to be more economically successful than the Palestinians.
A few weeks later a video was released in which Romney is heard telling fundraisers in a private meeting that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was "unsolvable" and that his strategy would be to "kick the ball down the field."
"I look at the Palestinians not wanting to see peace anyway, for political purposes, committed to the destruction and elimination of Israel, and these thorny issues, and I say, 'There’s just no way,'" Romney said at a May 17 fundraiser in Boca Raton, hosted by Marc Leder, a private equity manager.
The debate will be held at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida and will last 90 minutes. It will be aired live on Ynet at 3 am Israel time. Bob Schieffer of CBS News will be the moderator for the session.
More than 60 million Americans watched each of the first two debates.
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