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Hello readers! The night has finally arrived and thankfully, because I AM SICK OF THE ELECTION. There, I said it. If you’re still undecided, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT TO KNOW that you can’t Google about the candidates??!!!??!
Ok, I feel better having gotten that out.
Foreign policy wonks await with bated breath the messy, shout-y, hopefully factually correct debate in just a few hours. I will not be live-blogging the debate tonight and instead exercising my snark via Twitter (@RestlessRani or tune in to this page on the bottom right).
I will also be writing up a final analysis piece will post the link here!
I’ve heard/seen a lot of people who feel foreign policy doesn’t matter in a US election. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Do you buy goods made in China? Do you know how much of your tax dollars are funding fighting in Afghanistan, where children and American soldiers face incredible danger? Do you fuel up your car? Everything is related. Foreign policy is a complex dance requiring a cool head without being cold, a deep understanding of history and relationships without jumping to conclusions without accurate assessment of the current situation.
No doubt, Romney will call Obama an appeaser and apologist. Obama will counter with his history of drone strikes, aggressive counter-terrorism strategy, and Osama bin Laden. Romney will mention the debacle of the Benghazi tragedy – both sides have handled that badly. Obama will certainly bring up Romney’s comments regarding labeling China as a currency manipulator on Day 1 of his Presidency. I hope the supposed President Romney plans on getting rid of all the electronics in the White House should that happen. Absolutely ridiculous statement when the US economy would be in even further trouble without China. Obama will need to be clear, however, on his plans for Afghanistan. What happens if the Taliban retake Kabul in 2014?
In preparation for tonight, here are some reads/videos I thought were interesting:
I’m sick of the election, too, and I’m particularly sick of hearing about these undecided voters, who are such low information voters that nothing will get them to make up their minds in any logical way. I suspect that they know which candidate they prefer (even if only by a little and even if only because they like the candidate’s haircut) and that what they’re undecided about is whether they care enough to get out of bed and head to the polls on November 6th. I have been undecided before, but only in primaries in my political party where the difference between the candidates is minimal. Here, there is a difference on many issues (health care, taxes, marriage equality, contraception and reproductive rights, etc). If you’re undecided at this point, you simply don’t have any issues you really care about.
That is so true! I also think some of the ‘undecideds’ are really just saying so they can be on tv and feel important in this election!