MOUNT VERNON — The second presidential debate of 2012 will be held next week, when President Barack Obama and challenger Mitt Romney will square off on foreign policy matters in a Town Hall meeting format.
With polls showing the two men in a virtual dead heat nationally and in most swing states, it will be a crucial 90 minutes of high political drama. Romney had an opportunity to weigh in on foreign policy several times during his visit to Mount Vernon on Wednesday, and he provided a glimpse of what to expect in his next encounter with Obama.
Ariel Corp. hosted the event, and as has been the case throughout the long and grueling campaign, the economy, deficit and national debt received considerable attention from the Republican Party. Those economic issues intersected with foreign policy in the form of a discussion of military spending.
U.S. Sen. Rob Portman was the first to address the topic of the military with the crowd of nearly 1,000 Ariel employees and invited guests.
“Peace comes through strength,” Portman said, “but the president wants cuts in the military that even (Defense Secretary) Leon Panetta says would be devastating.”
Romney picked up on the same theme, saying that he supports “a military so strong we don’t have to use it. President Obama wants to shrink the military. I will keep our military second to none.”
The former Massachusetts governor and businessman also addressed America’s role as a global leader and took the position that the United States has become weaker during Obama’s years in the White House.
“We look to the world like a nation that is following,” he said. “We have to shape events rather than let them happen to us. When I was in Poland, I had a conversation with (former president) Lech Walesa, and he asked me, ‘Where is America’s leadership? We must have it.’
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