Worried about what federal budget cuts would do to the defense indfrtry. Tr roads region might not be ablro to define see questions traition but with the Largest Military concentration in m the country they kw bi cuts to defen me the lo of lots ofobs. C2 woodruf and Jeffrey Brown talkto composer philip glass ob his genreben opera out Albert Einstei the amazing thing is that what you see, almost everything you see has been talked about. If you look at the stage youre looking at the furniture of your imagination. Woodruff thats all aheadn tonight newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by c2 ur sic is a univers languec2 c2t wi wain an acci i c2worrie the health ce em spo a lang all itsc2 c2 with uniteth cre i got lp th fit lifec2 infortion o one. C2 c2nnection too ctor too t c2ere im from an toolsls toto eimate w my cre co so i never miss a t. C2 wee more t 78,0 people looking out for more than 70 million americans. Thats health in numbers. United health care. Viking river cruises. Exploring the world in comfort. And by the alfred p. Sloan foundation. Supporting sence, technology, and improved economicng ncialrmance and fi literacy in the 21st century. D and with the ongoing sup rt of these institutions and foundations. And. This program was made possible by the corporation forrt public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Ifill the president ial candidates beat a path to battleground states today, starting an allout push to the election. It marked the beginning of the endgame, with 14 days to go. The debates are over but the campaign is picking up steam. President obama and mtt romney wasted no timendoday gettingo back out on the campaign trail. With election day now only two weeks awayng the candidates are devoting every waking minute to revving up the base and courting any remaining undecided vayters in a handful of critical swing states. For mr. Obama this morning, that met the Campaign Rally before an enthusiastic crowd in delray beach, florida, not far from the nightstof last faceoff. You ys really arys fired up. Ifill picking up where he left off last night he fold voters th governor romney is not a reliale choice. Wereelccustomed to seeingto politicians change their itsitions from like four years ago. We are not accustomed to seeing politicians change their position from four days ago. I mean,. And we joke about romnesia but you know what . This is is important. This is about trust. There is no more serious issue president ial campaign than t trust. Ifill doubling down on that argument Vice President joe biden amplified the democrats message at the university ofie toledo in ohio before meeting up with theresident later in the day for a joint rally in dayton. Mitt romney headedth west for a jot rally of his own with running mate congressman paul ryan. The two told a roaring crowd in henderson, nevada, the president does not deserve a second term. Can you afford four more years 23 million americans looking for a good job . No can you afford four more years with housing prices going down along they bottom . No. Can you afford four more years of doubling of the gasoline prices youre paying . No how about this instead. Would you le to have four years where we create 12 million new jobs . Yes how about four years, how about four years where were able to see rising takehome pay again . Ifill both campaigns capitalized on their final debate by focusedded mostly on Foreign Policy. Much of that in the greater middle east. Seated arms length from mr. Romney the president repeatedly accused his republican challenger of changing his positions out of political expedience. You said that first we should not have a time line in afghanistan. Then you said we should. Noneyou saymaybe. Or it depends. Which means not only were you wrong but you were also confusing and sending mixed messages both to our troops and our allies. What we need to do with respect to the middle east is strong, steady leadership. Not wrong and reckles leadership thatkl is all over te map. Unfortunately thats the kind of opinions that youve offered throughout this campaign. Ifill governor romney said he agrees with many of the president s actions in syria, egypt, afghanistan and pakistan. But those policies, he said, have not been well executed. You look at the record ofhe last four years and say, is iran closer to a bomb . Yes. Is the middle east in o tumult . Yes. Is al qaeda on the run on its heels . No. Our israelnd the palestinians closer to reaching a peacea agreement . No, they havent had talks in two years. Not seen the progress we need to have. Im convinced that with strong leadership and an effort to build a strategy based upon helping these nations reject extremism, we can see the kind of peace and prosperity the world demands. Ifill turng to the final stretch, the two campaigns t released a influenceyf Television Advertising to drive their points home. Governor room kneesf ads returned to the debate stage. America is going to come back. For that to happen, were going to have a president who can work across the aisle. Ill work with you. Ill lead you in an open and honest way. And i ask for your vote. Id like to be the next president of the United States to support and help this great nation. Ifill the president s advertising also focused on the thoice voterso face. Read my plan. Compare it to governor romneys and decide which is better for you. Its an honor to be your president. Im asking for your vote. So together we can keep moving america forward. Ifill from here, its a sprint to november 6. Following his afternoon rally, romney headed to colorado. And then back to nevada. And on to iowa tomorrow. The president spends the next two days hittingight states iowa, colorado, nevada, florida, virginia, illinois, and ohio as well as burbank california for an apearance on the tonightce show. Woodruff for more on last night woodruff for more on last nights debate, we turn again to two experts on Foreign Policy richard haas, president of then council on foreign relatns. Hes in chicago. N and in boston, former u. S. Diplomat nicholas burns, now with the Kennedy School of government at harvard university. Welcome to you both. Let me just ask you tstart broadly speaking. What do we take away from last nights debate in terms of how well these two candidates understand american Foreign Policy and would be a good steward of it . Let me start with you. Nick burns well, judy, this may sound startling to say in our present redblue divided partisan environment but i think we have two impressive people running for president. There botht knowledgeable. Theyre both very smart about the issues. Both of them have been successful in nearly everything theyve tried in tir professional lives. President obama was clearly the more knowledgeableir and nuanced and even somes tketed in the way he describedded the challenges to us on the Foreign Policy and National Security landscape. I thought that governor romney had a very strong moment in the debate, a very good moment when he tied together our domestic economy and our ability to sustain a Strong Military and a strong diplomacy overseas. He said in effect that if we have a failing economy at home we wont be able to afford a firstrate Foreign Policy. But i also think that this dete showed last nigow that there are very clear differences between those two despite, you know, the drift of governor room knee to the center last night. They have different Life Experiences and different world views. Governor room knee theres a quality to t way he talkshe about Foreign Policy, its more back to the future, restore american leadership, american greatness. President obama, i think recognizing the reality that were operating in an era of limits that we are pressed financially,o you saw ino libya in 2011 he pushed brita and france out to leadership of that nato operation tond take down colonel kadafy. So very diffent world views. I thiif all a the agreement last ght shouldnt mask the fact that we have a real choice ong november 6. Woodruff richard haas, how do you size up the two after last night . And how do you see those differences . Well, actually i thought the sim layers were greater than the differences. Thato me was in some ways theth most striking part of the debate. Both also, as ambassador burns pointed out, emphasized the integral, the close linkage between what we want to do abroad and what it is were doing here at home, that essentially Foreign Policy can only be successful abroad if we have the resource space and if we can set an example to the world. Both of them emphasized that point. Ey both als emphasized a a lot the middle east. There i thought what was interesting wasnt so much what they do but what they wouldnt do. Both candidates talked about the limits to the american involvement, say, in syria. They talked about the problems of a pakistan and the challenges of dealing with the muslim brotherhoodled egypt but it wasnt again clear to me listening to what exactly they would do to t keep things n the rails or if things went off the ails. Woodruff nick burns, coming back to the point that both of you have made about theai agreement, what did you make of the agreement that governor romney seemed to have with the president s policies on iran, on when to lead to afghanistan, on egypt, on drones and especially compared with some of the language weve been hearing from governor room knee earlier in the campaign . I found it surprising. I cant calculate the politics of this. It may be good politics for him in those Battle Ground states but in Foreign Policy i think what most people opuld be looking for, most of us arel looking for, is someone with core values, someone with a coherent and compelling world view, and someone wit a plan t to, you know, sustain american power. Its difficult i think now for governor romney because hesan campaigned for the last two years through all those republican bates he had very different positions than last night on iran, on afghanistan,ba on iraq and on russia. The are some of the Biggest Challenges ahead of usso in 2013 and 14. I think this does get to credibility. I think he hurt himself last night in trying to be something that he has notn been very consistently in the campaign trail. On the other hand, i think what you saw from president obama is someone with a fairly Impressive International record of accomplishments in his first term and a very clear difference, i think, in where he would take us on some of those issues than governor romney in a second term. Woodruff richard as, how did you read the, i guess, the difference between thas ameeemet of what we heard last night from governor romney, the criticism in the past, and how do you square when governor romney says he believes u. S. Foreign policy is unraveling under this president but then he proceeds, as he said, to agree with himn a number of points. N well as Richard Nixon i think it was who said when you run for the nomination youve got to tack more towards the end zones. When youre in the general election youve got to head towards the middle of the field. None of that should surprise anybody. I also think incumbents have a certain structural advantage. Theyve been wrestling with National Security challenges for four years. Someone who is a governor who hasnt been a senator on the Foreign Relations committee is always going to have, i think, certain disadvantages. With that said, the president also has problems of consistency. I dont think he did a good job last night in explaining his iraq policy. About why it was the United States did not leave a residual force there. Also when you look at the middle east, ill be honest with you, dy, i dont think you can have a policy of consistency. The United States gets involved to get rid of colonel kadafyin libya. On the other hand more than 30,000 syrians have lost their lives and the United States has largely stood on the side lines. Its not clear what were going to do if and when there are upheavals in places likein jrda, bahrain or evenaudi arabia. So im not sure we have the luxury of consistency. I think what both of them were saying was that the middle east is extraordinarily complex. Governor romney said two interesting things i thought. One is that what the united reates did in iraq and afghanistan cannot be a template for the future. Thed idea were going to continue to send hundreds of housands of americans to remake other societies, thats clearly a nonstarter. And then he said i think his phrase was we cant killho ourselves out of this mess. There has to be Something Else dealing with extremism and the muslim and arab world other than simply traditional counterterrorism and drone attacks. There has to be something larger to try to encourage the evolution of these societies so essentially young men dont make the career choice of becoming terrorists. I think thats a big idea. Its easier to articulate than implement it but i think again to me its a welcome add toyingh to thegs dehete. Woodruff what about those two points, nickte burns and wht didnt you hear picking up on something you said a minute ago. Wh have you not heard now from these two men that voters should want to know before ey go to the polls . Well, i guess i disage that it doesnt matteris somehow that someone chges their positions. To me it matters veryge greatly. It goes to a persons credibility and consistencies. On two issues governor romney called russia our number one adversary. He took that back last night. He belittled sanctions and president obamas inclination to negotiate with iran. Last night he took that back. I think these differences matter. I think the drift by governorl romney is troubling. I would say, judy, what was missing last night was a focus on the real difficult challenges that our next president is going to have no matter who is elected. On iran, are we going to seek to negotiate a very difficult compromise with irano short of the use of force or are we going to choose the use of force perhaps with israel to stop them short . On the other hand wereoing to have to also decide what to doo about china and how to handle this very difficult balancing act where a major trade partner of china, but we have profound political and economic differences with them in east asia. There was none of that last night. The real difficult challenges that the next president will have to embrace. Woodruff rhard haas, quickly on what has not been talked about and what about the russia point that rick burns just made . Well, countries like russia, china and many others, yourei going to have thisy ralt where theyre not going to be clearly adversaries. Theyre clearly not going to be allies. Its going to be in between. This is going to be an era where nimble Foreign Policy is going to be the order of the day. What we didnt hear about what, say, anything about mexico or really latin america, about africa, about Climate Change, about japan. More broadly about asia. They talked about china but asia is getting in some ways, quote unquote, interesting again. In some ways it reminds me of europe of areentury ago where a lot of countries are begin to go get more atiff in their foreign policies. You dont have the regional institutions. You dont yet have the reconcilitiion of past frictions. Ihunch is the new president will not have to deal simply with all the obvious challenges of the greater middle east we have come to know. My hunch is theyre going to have to deal with all the problems of Asian Pacific as well as the lingering challenge of thee euro zone problem. It will be e a full foreign pocy inbox for whoever is elected. Woodruff fascinating. I dont think much more were going to hear about Foreign Policy becyeen now and the election. We did hear about it last nighte thank you both for sharing your thoughts with us this evening. Tnk you both. Thanknk you. Woodruff and we have other views online. Gideon rose, editor of Foreign Affairs magazine, writes about what a romney or obama win could mean for the future of u. S. Foreign relations. Thats in the rundown. Ifill still to come on the newshour, assessi the facts ines orryingghts debate; about defense cuts in virginia; and reviving an unconventional opera. But first, with the other news of the day, heres Hari Sreenivasan. Sreenivasan wall street had one of its worst days of the year after a series of disappointing earnings reports from the likes of dupont, xerox, and ups. At the w jones industrial average lost 243 points to close at 13,102. The nasdaq fell 26 points to close at 2990. Th the country where the arab spring began, tunisia, marked an anniversary today with rival monstrations. Its been one year since an Islamist Party took powein tunisias first electipo since a longtime dictator was ousted. Pro and antigovernment supporters gathered today outside the National Assembly building in tunis. They waved signs and chanted slogans at one another. We are here to celebrate the first election of the constituent assembly, the first time in the history of tunisia. The day is considered as the second independence. The first time the s tunisian people practicedded the election in a transparent way with the world as a witness. Sreenivasan opposition lawmakers boycotted a special legislative session marking the anniversary they accused the islamist government of failing to achieve the revolutions goals of jobs, freedom, and dignity. The emir of qatar made a landmark trip to gaza today. The first visit by anyit head of state since hamas seized control there five years ago. Gazans lined the mn road ton gaza city, as the emir waved at them from his car. He also met with hamas leaders and urged them to reconcile with the rival fatah faction, whi