Romnesia. But the strategy last night, stay strong, sharp and relentless. The commander in chief brought a bayonet to a Foreign Policy knife fight. Your strategy previously has been one thats been all over the map. I know you havent been in a position to actually execute Foreign Policy. You mentioned the navy for example and we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. Governor, we have fewer horses and bayonets. The question is not a game of battleship where were counting ships. It is what are our capables . Those were cheap shots that he took at mitt romney last night. I think you should treat your opponent with some respect, especially if youre the president of the United States and he didnt. Governor romneys strategy shows the softer side, appearing cool, careful and measured and tended to attack center left. We cant kill our way out of this mess. We dont want another iraq. We dont want another afghanistan. Thats not the right course for us. Attacking me is not an agenda. Attacking me is not talking about how well deal with the challenges in the middle east. Willing to say anything about anything at any time to close the deal. It is running for president of the United States. So you dont believe he wants the troops out in 2014 . I believe he wants to say whatever it takes to get him elected. Snap polls and pundits given the final debate victory to president obama but tactically is it too little, too late . Can president obama impose a price on mitt romney for that . Can he hold his feet to the fire and win that argument so possible the audacity of etch will work . Well, i think that the problem for the Obama Campaign is the first debate. Even if they can just knock that back a little bit in terms of the gains romney made i think they feel theres some Real Advantage in that. We knew this was a close race, right . I dont think we expected it. I think its i think it is now impossible to call. Joining me now is Maryland Democratic congressman chris van hollen. Sir, it is good to have you with me. Some said that the president was a bit too aggressive last night. I want to everybody a moment in that debate and then reaction of congressman paul ryan this morning. Take a look. I congratulate him on taking out Osama Bin Laden and going after the leadership of al qaeda but we cant kill our way out of this mess. Im glad you recognize that al qaeda is a threat because when you were asked whats the biggest geo political threat facing america you said russia. Not al qaeda. You said russia. In the 1980s, calling to ask for their Foreign Policy back. You know what we saw with this debate . Mitt romneys ready to be a great president. We saw a man with a command of the facts, the kind of temperament and demeanor that makes for a great president. Command of the facts and demean know. Did mitt romney look more president ial . Thomas, are you talking to me now . Yes. Oh, no. Listen. I thought last night we understood clearly why the American People credit president obama with strong and strong leadership and why mitt romney is not ready for strong and steady leadership. Look. He essentially endorsed Barack ObamasForeign Policy but in doing so he totally flip flopped on his own positions and thats bad enough when youre dealing with domestic policy issues. Its dangerous when you do it in the Foreign Policy arena. Steadiness is important. Mitt romney as the president said is all over the map on important Foreign Policy issues. That sends risky mixed signals to the allies and foes and i thought mitt romney essentially by playing the etchasketch and romnesia on Foreign Policy showed he doesnt have the steadiness. The president was very clear on this. Congressman, a lot of people scratching their heads today as they review the debate wondering how do you nail jello to the wall . Mitt romney endorsing certain policies of the president as displayed by last night but with only two weeks left to go, was a aggressive display of knowledge and president ial leadership too late for certain voters in this country who may have already decided that mitt romney might be the person they want to go for . I dont think its too late at all. I think last night all the polls clearly showed the president won. There were still undecided voters watching last night. They went overwhelmingly for the president because, again, people are getting a real sense that mitt romney is a finger of the wind candidate. We know what positions he took in the republican primary. He has had a Foreign Policy that is just bluster. Which is very dangerous. When youre not going to back it up. When it comes to domestic policy, the president reminded people that mitt romney was for allowing american manufacturing, Auto Industry to go bankrupt. Mitt romneys trying to play catch up on and saying that the president took his idea. It is incredible. I dont think the American People are going to let mitt romney get away with this. They know where he is, where he was in the republican primary. Hes wedded to the republican tea parties members of the house of the representatives. Thats become the base of his campaign operation. And i dont think anybodys going to be fooled. And again, last night underscored why mitt romneys not ready to be commander in chief because you need steadiness. You cannot be a flip flopper. You cannot be the person who makes up your positions on the fly. That, again, sends very dangerous signals abroad. One thing that the Obama Campaign is out today with a new ad calling a multiplit form organization and shows the agenda of the president for the four years. Take a lock. Auto industry back. Our heroes are coming home. Were not there yet. But we have made real progress. And the last thing we should do is turn back now. As we know from the president s schedule, the Campaign Schedule over three days, the president s going to barnstorm key battleground states. We know that Vice President joe biden based in ohio for the next three days going to different events there. Do you think, though, that with, again, just these 14 days to go and the sliver of people that theyre looking for, the undecided in this country that thats enough time for the president s message to resonate . I think its enough time and the other factor, thomas, the turnout effort and the president s campaign is very well organized in the battleground states. Theyve been working very hard to turn out the vote. The vote is now energized. I think you will see democrats going to the polls. And for those few remaining undecided voters out there, i thought last nights debate was important, reminding people why they credit this president with being a strong commander in chief. And again, the theme the president struck on Foreign Policy was the same that hes struck on domestic policy. It would be a big mistake to go back to the economic policies that mitt romneys proposing that got us in to this mess to begin with and it would be a mistake to go back to the bush foreign policies that got us in to the messes we did overseas. And the reality is that a big part of mitt romneys team are hangovers from the Bush Administration, the bush cheney team. So i know that mitt romney wanted to go to Great Lengths last night assure the American People that he wasnt going to turn back the clock to the bush Foreign Policy we the people surrounded himself with are exactly that team and so nobody should be fooled whether its his flip flop on domestic policy issues or flip flops on Foreign Policy. Just so people know, its 17 out of 24 of romneys foreign advisers are from president bushs years. Congressman chris van hollen, thank you for being here. I appreciate it. Thank you. Want to pli in the political power panel for this tuesday. Former Senior Adviser to Hillary Clintons president ial campaign. Joel reuben, current director of policy in Government Affairs for the plow shares fund and jackie curbman. Its great to have you here. Jackies senator john kerry on the daily rundown this morning on msnbc and had this to say about governor romney. Take a listen. Listening to mitt romney is like listening to a candidate whos running on cliff notes or who had rosette stone Foreign Policy. Not holding back there, jackie. Your dad in the primary is harsh on mitt romney, as well. Calling him as a man who wants to run for president of the United States who cannot be honest with the American People. Why level about anything if hes president . How do we know American Voters out there at this point which mitt romney wed get as president after seeing the display we saw last night and seeing a pivot back to the middle . Well, i think, thomas, first of all, thank you for having me on. Welcome back from your honeymoon. Thank you. I hope you had a great time and what youve seen in the last three debates is mitt romney and the first debate, a fabulous job. We agree that president obama was basically asleep. Second debate, pretty muched him but the Foreign Policy debate is very different because what he had to do is go against somebody whos commander in chief and obama has a different stature in the debate and has to look like he can be commander in chief and he had a command of the facts, he knew exactly not just cliff notes but i would say indepth what was happening and where he agreed with president obama, he agreed and he also very clearly laid out to the American People where he would and would not go depending on what was needed and that was very important for mitt romney to do that and i think he did a fantastic job. All right. So as jackies talking about there mitt romney showing specifics and a depth of knowledge, certainly, the president showed a depth of knowledge and aggressive posture about what it takes to be a leader in the position of commander in chief and being that person that other World Leaders are locking to. However, as we saw last night, there is reaction from women and a focus group of nbc had specifically. I want to play a part of that for you. I rally liked the issues when they were talking about the small businesses. You know . And especially the economy. They kept harping on the economy and instead of obama really talking about what he was going to do to really build the economy, i felt romney had much better, you know, vision on where he was going and what he was going to do and his plan. Isnt it interesting, ann, most people walking away from a Foreign Policy debate would pick up their ears perk up talking about the economy and aligning mitt romney, the perception he would be better handling our economy. There were a number of focus groups and polls last night and as you may know, most of the polls that, every poll i have seen of uncommitted voters scored president obama as the winner. My own favorite focus group is of walmart moms. Im very big on the walmart moms. They have some of the hardest jobs in the world and they thought clearly that president obama was the winner. Look, last night president obama showed why he is and should be commander in chief. He was clear, forceful. He showed that he is willing to use and has used the instruments of National Power to keep us safe and secure and at the same time and just as important, strengthening alliances to meet whatever challenge comes forward. Joel, israel seemed to get a lot more mentions than any other country last night. I just want to remind everybody. Take a look. Everything were doing were doing in consultation with our partners in the region including israel. Israel is a true friend. When im president of the United States well stand with israel. Daylight between ourselves and israel. So the president was the first one to bring up israel last night throughout the debates. Mitt romney throughout this season has said specifically that the president has thrown israel under the bus, brought up last night the fact that the president not visited israel over the time hes been president. Obviously, a lot of pander to floridas Jewish Voters there. What struck you the most and most notably absent . Thank you, thomas, for having me. That israel example is a perfect symbol of what happened last night. Many in the Foreign Policy community befuddled for mitt romney to argue for positions now he was against during the campaign in the past year and in particular on iran, on afghanistan, on syria. He has essentially endorsed the president s policy. On israel, the president explained how he had a shared vision with israel for the defense and security and really e butted the political attacks leveled at him about israel. As well as political attacks on libya. It was odd. Romney really did not seem to stand by his attacks and his critiques of the past year and instead the president seemed to come out with a new endorsee of the Foreign Policy. Well know soon enough who the third time was a charm for in two weeks. Great to see all of you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. The Foreign Policy debate lands domestic. The issues and answers that could decide the election. Now that the debates are officially over, are you still undecided . If so, why . Tweet me or find me on facebook. 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[ female announcer ] olay regenerist. Welcome back, everybody. Lets look at the battleground headlines with election day 14 days away. In florida, why president obama won the debate and why it might not matter much. The miami herald said the president didnt get the knockout punch he needed. In ohio, bold biden pours it on for obama in ohio. The paper noted that biden praised obama and fiercely attacks the republican ticket. In virginia, will final debate break voters stalemate in usa today questioned who won that debate and will it sway undecided voters in america . Two leaders of the u. S. Conference of mayor. Gentlemen, its great to have you here. Mayor reid, i want to start with you about this and the opinion piece written by karl rove out this morning and writes it looks like while governor romney may have lost the debate he looked like a commander many chief and presented himself in a president ial way with the president s tone being much too aggressive and down right nasty. So, mayor reid, governor romney is ahead on the issue of the economy and certainly came up and presented itself last night in the Foreign Policy debate, the domestic issues. But after last night, is he not considered a credible alternative on Foreign Policy . Absolutely not. I mean, i think what people should walk away with not surprising that karl rove write a fantasy football piece this morning. Thats what he does for a living for republicans but it is not surprising. The president is in a strong position. Hes won two out of three debates and folks need to remember what was extremely clear last night was that if mitt romney had been president then Osama Bin Laden would likely not have been killed. Because he would have asked pakistan for permission to take the shot and i think that that matters to americans because 3,000 americans lost their lives and the man willing to take the shot, the man that didnt ask pakistan for permission was barack obama. And hes going to be reelected president of the United States. Mayor smith, people are saying theres not a lot of daylight between the two candidates with handling and beliefs of Foreign Policy. I want to play what an undecided voter had to say from last night. Take a listen. I felt like tonight what happened is romney agreed with the president a lot and surprising theres not more distinction between them. Im glad he did and some of the things before was kind of speaking in language that would isolate us more than bring us towards the rest of the world. Certainly governor has been critical of the president s Foreign Policy out on the stump yet the perception seems face to face he agrees with the president for most of it. Is governor romney trying to have it both ways when it comes to his Foreign Policy platform or is he just being strategic in how he was handling last nights debate . Well, i dont think theres any doubt that you go in to a debate with a strategy and in a debate