From Cairo Speech To Benghazi: Addressing Obama's Foreign Policy At Last Debate

The following by Jonathan Rosenblum is reposted here with permission:

The Foreign Policy Debate Ahead

by Jonathan Rosenblum
Yated Ne'eman
October 19, 2012


Foreign policy has long been considered the one area in which President Obama has a decisive edge over challenger Mitt Romney in the eyes of most voters. Or at least that was the case until Sept. 11 2012, when mobs overran the U.S. embassy in Cairo and Al Qaeda terrorists killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya, together with three other State department personnel.

Voters do not normally pay a great deal of attention to foreign affairs, at least in the absence of obvious disaster or war, and that has served to protect President Obama's foreign policy from closer voter scrutiny. While the United States' determination and ability to secure its vital interests and guard the stability of the international order have declined on his watch, these are matters far from the purview of most voters. As long as the President removed American troops from Iraq – no matter what the cost in terms of expanding Iranian influence in the country – and is well along in the process of doing so in Afghanistan, voters were sure to give him the nod over Governor Romney when it comes to guiding America's foreign affairs over the next four years.

Jonathan Pollard May Become An Election Year Issue

At the conclusion of the Haaretz article about the Reform movement, we read that the issue of Jonathan Pollard is being picked up by the Republican candidates:

Until recently, most campaigns did not provide the positions of their candidates on this issue. But now that the U.S. Jewish leaders plan to send delegations to visit Pollard in jail - candidates are thinking about adding their positions on the issue to their talking points.