Debates 2012: Foreign Policy Issues That Were Not Addressed

There’s a long list of foreign policy issues that got little or no mention during the Obama-Romney foreign policy debate.

Anchor Marco Werman asks our editors Peter Thomson, William Troop, and Clark Boyd to name three of those issues: climate change, Mexico’s drug war and Europe’s economic crisis.

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Marco Werman: I am Marco Werman; this is The World. You’ve likely heard a lot of people today dissecting the comments from last night’s final presidential debate. Today, on the program, we’re going to dissect some consequential issues that were not mentioned last night. Let’s start with a snapshot of what was noticeably absent from three of our editors here at The World. Peter Thomson, you’re The World’s environment editor. What did you notice missing from last night’s debate?

Peter Thomson: Well, you won’t be surprised to hear from me and a lot of other folks that it was climate change. Climate change is already emerging as a huge destabilizing force around the world and it’s only going to get a whole lot worse, especially if whoever is the next president doesn’t make a much more serious effort to reckon with it than President Obama or any other president for that matter has done so far. I mean, we’re talking about coastal flooding that’s gonna inundate cities around the world and create millions of climate refugees. We’re talking about major disruptions to food and water supplies that we’re already starting to see. This is something that’s very much even on the Pentagon’s radar as what they call a ‘threat multiplier’ around the world, but not a peep from the candidates or the moderator. That’s just a nutshell version; we’re hear a lot more about it later in the program.

Werman: All right Peter; thanks a lot. Let’s move to The World’s William Troop who keeps close tabs on what’s happening south of the U.S. border in Mexico. William, what did Romney and Obama have to say about Mexico last night?

William Troop: Nothing. Nada, if you want to get bi-lingual about it.

Werman: Not one word.

Troop: Not one word, and part of that…responsibility for that has to go to the moderator. Bob Schieffer of the CBS News obviously didn’t think that Mexico rated among the top foreign policy topics that matter the most to this country, but both candidates really failed on their own to bring it up. They had ample opportunities for that and they failed to connect on an issue that matters a lot to a key voting group – Latinos, many of whom are Mexican-Americans. I think neither Romney nor Obama would deny that the drug war in Mexico with tens of thousands of people killed in the past 6 years represents a huge threat to American security, especially if, as is being increasingly reported, the drug cartels are extending their reach, their tentacles north of the border as well. So, the two candidates both left us with the impression that they either don’t care about this issue or that they have no new pro-active ideas about how the U.S. can deal with it and, in the end, it’s a negative for both.

Werman: Well, we’ll hear more about the Mexico issue from Mexico in a few minutes. The World’s William Troop; thanks a lot. Finally, The World’s Clark Boyd. You’ve been following the European economy story. Any mention of that last night?

Clark Boyd: Well, Marco, asides from a couple of passing mentions of Poland and a couple of “we don’t want to go down the road to Greece” kind of moments, Europe was noticeably absent from the debate last night. You know, you’ve got this financial crisis in Europe that’s been going on for two years now. It’s one of those cases that never seem to really get solved. You know, I was really surprised that there wasn’t at least one question about how the tanking economy in Europe, one of America’s biggest trading partners, was not mentioned at all last night. There was not a question about it.

Werman: The World’s Clark Boyd, thank you so much.

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Last Presidential Debate Marks First Time in 24 Years That Climate Change Went Unmentioned:scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id…

— Bora Zivkovic (@BoraZ) October 23, 2012

It was the moderator Bob Schieffer who asked 2 questions on Israel & no questions on Euro-crisis, Mexico, climate change. #debate

— Shiva Balaghi (@SBalaghi) October 23, 2012

What people around the world are tweeting about missing debate topics: