Obama Beats Romney 9-0 in Final Debate

OK, 9-0 was the score of the baseball game. The San Francisco Giants from blue state California beat the St. Louis Cardinals from red state Missouri for the NL pennant to go to the World Series. There was a Presidential debate tonight too on the subject of America's place in the world, last in the series.

Boca Raton, Florida? What kind of place is that to hold a Presidential debate? Where next, Beverly Hills, California? Highland Park, Texas? Cherry Hills, Colorado? Glencoe, Illinois? Bloomfield Hills, Michigan? Brookline, Massachusetts? Scarsdale, New York? In 2016, we should hold the first debate in a Southwest Iowa sale barn.

Boca Raton means "mouth of the mouse" in Spanish. This debate was not the mouse that squealed or the mouse that roared. It was a debate where both candidates tried to mouth all the rights words.

I'd have to say that foreign policy is Barack Obama's best pitch (or perhaps Hillary Clinton and Leon Panetta's). Mitt whiffed on Libya, Syria, and Iran. Then he hit a couple of fly balls on Israel, which Barack was able to easily catch. Mitt hit a few more fouls and tips, but mostly Barack threw strikes across the plate.

The problem I have with Mitt Romney is that he has such a long list of foreign nations where he says we haven't done enough and should do more. That's a lot of men to put on base, and once you get them there it's hard to bring them home.

"After a decade of war, it's time to do some nation-building at home," sounds like a great formulation to me. The Republican Party used to understand this principle. Where is Dwight Eisenhower when you need him?

China selling us goods too cheap is a tough competitive problem. But how are we going to punish China by labeling them a currency manipulator and making them raise their prices. So the "punishment" is that China is forced to make bigger profits on sales to the U.S. What am I missing? Am I an idiot?

The foreign policy question not asked was the one question I wanted to hear, what Clint Eastwood asked the empty chair:

"I know you were against the war in Iraq, and that's okay. But you thought the war in Afghanistan was OK. You know, I mean -- you thought that was something worth doing. We didn't check with the Russians to see how did it -- they did there for 10 years. But we did it, and it is something to be thought about, and I think that, when we get to maybe -- I think you've mentioned something about having a target date for bringing everybody home. You gave that target date, and I think Mr. Romney asked the only sensible question, you know, he says, 'Why are you giving the date out now? Why don't you just bring them home tomorrow morning?'"

Instead Bob Schieffer asked a question about whether Obama or Romney would stay past the 2014 target date if Afghanistan was still a mess.

I suppose there was commentary but I switched back to the ballgame, which ended in the rain. I missed the Detroit Tigers sweep of the New York Yankees to win the AL pennant in in 4 games, that should give them an advantage over these wet Giants. It should be a good World Series. I'll be rooting for the Tigers.