And now, the last debate. Foreign policy, meaning that any interest in this policy is foreign to Mr. Romney. He will be loaded up with facts and figures, talking points and stern statements for this last tete a tete with the President. But his philosophy, short of an attack of Romnesia between now and tomorrow night, can best be simply described as "spend a whole lot and carry a big stick".
In keeping with the rest of his pronouncements, there will be no underpinning to support his monetary stance. Seeking to raise defense spending to 4% of GDP, Romney is following the time tested path of unpaid-for defense spending engineered to disastrous consequence in the last decade by President Bush. While Mr. Romney speaks often of how America can no longer ignore the debt that has been created, his budget for defense can mean only one of two things: either the debt will continue to increase or, as President Clinton would say, now listen closely to this, the money to pay for this will have to come from an evisceration of spending on various domestic programs. Because, as we have been advised through the looking glass of Mr. Romney and his fuzzy math, the shortfall won't be made up from tax increases on the rich, or anyone else.
The programs that will line up as victims of reduced funding are those that help the elderly, the sick the poor, the unemployed, the children who have no vote and no voice. These are the 47% who Mr. Romney believes can be discounted and discarded while $2 billion is expended on an extra submarine or troop levels remaining much higher than a war weary country needs, or reality dictates.
We learned today that Iran is making overtures for direct talks with our country on their threat of becoming a nuclear threat. We understand that crippling sanctions have possibly lessened their resolve and may allow a peaceful resolution of this crisis to occur. We know that warnings of war should be deemed a last, not a first resort. And tomorrow, Mr. Romney may indeed make some of those assertions.
But Mr. Romney has consistently shown disdain or anger, not comprehension or compassion in speaking of foreign powers. He would declare China a currency manipulator on his first day in office, consider the Israel- Palestine problem one not capable of answer, deem Russia a dangerous enemy and find negotiation with Iran a useless waste of time. To Mr. Romney, no matter what we hear on that stage tomorrow night, America is in decline and can only reemerge as a power by a demonstration of force in word and deed. To him, subtlety and nuance, understanding not only of your viewpoint, but that of the other person, has no resonance and no meaning.
But for the desultory performance of the President on the stage in Denver, this last debate would have been of little consequence. Now, an uncertain result awaits. For those still able to be persuaded as to whom they want to lead us in the next four years, I ask that they consider carefully where Mr. Romney intends to take us. To the brink of war, to creation of more enemies throughout the world, to a disintegration of the safety net that protects our most vulnerable, and on a straight line to potential disaster at home and abroad.