The final
Presidential debate to place on Monday Night at Lynn University in Boca Raton,
FL.
My quick
take on it:
President
Obama schooled Mr. Romney on the topic of national security. Mr. Romney failed
the test of Commander-In-Chief badly. Anytime Mr. Romney tried to say he was in
agreement with the President on a foreign policy subject, Obama pointed out
that Romney held a completely opposite position prior to this debate.
The two
biggest flubs by Romney that evening: Iran’s access to the sea is through Syria
and the Navy is its weakest since 1917.
First, basic
geography.
Iran is not
even close to Syria. There are two countries between Iran and Syria: Iraq and
Turkey.
But look at
what is to the southwest of Iran, that stretch of blue. That’s the Persian Gulf
and it flows out through the Strait of Hormuz into the Gulf of Oman and out to
the Indian Ocean.
Show of
hands… who’s been in that part of the world?
I’ve been
over there. I was on the aircraft carrier USS
Carl Vinson (CVN-70) from 2004-08. During that time period I was on
deployment from January-July 2005. The deployment took us to the Persian Gulf
where we spent half of the deployment in support of operations in Iraq and that
part of the world.
Which brings
me to my second point, and I speak not as a partisan Progressive Liberal
Pragmatic Forward Thinking Democrat but a US Navy Veteran.
The Navy is
NOT its weakest since 1917. That is a right wing talking point that is utter BULLSHIT!
We have the
most ships out of any country in the world; particularly our carriers which I
am proud to have served on one of them and assist in the long maintenance
period to get her back into service for another 25 years.
We have 11
nuclear powered aircraft carriers. One is slated for retirement, the USS Enterprise (CVN-65), at the end of
this year after over 50 years of faithful service to our country. We’ve called
on them many times in our nation’s history for various reasons ranging from
deterrent purposes to humanitarian aid support. That call was needed especially
in 1962. The Enterprise was on watch during
the Cuban Missile Crisis where she aided in the quarantine of Cuba to prevent
the Soviet Union from placing nuclear missiles on that island.
We are
currently building three new carriers: Gerald
Ford (CVN-78), John F. Kennedy
(CVN-79), and Name TBD (CVN-80). The Ford
(snicker, yes, we have a Lincoln and a Ford in the fleet) is expected to hit
the fleet in 2015; the second incarnation of the Kennedy in 2020; and the third yet-to-be-named in 2025 (total cost
of these three ships: $40 billion). Their expected life expectancy is 50 years.
We’ll still have nuclear powered carriers well into the 21st
century.
Just
recently the Navy celebrated its 237th birthday. On 13 October 1775,
the Continental Congress passed a resolution establishing what would become the
United States Navy.
There have
been many times where our Navy has done well in the service to our country
ranging from the Revolutionary War where our ships sought out British cargo
ships to the War of 1812 where the USS
Constitution provided key naval victories that prevented the British Navy
from gaining an advantage to the Civil War where a Union blockade of
Confederate ports prevented them from shipping their goods to World War II to
when President Obama ordered SEAL Team Six to eliminate Osama bin Laden.
Oh, and we
have ships in the Persian Gulf where they are maintaining the economic
sanctions on Iran.
CONCLUSION
Obama: A, experience, points out Romney's flip-flopsRomney: F, looked sweaty, pandering, desperate#Debate2012
— Michael Watts (@mjwatts1983) October 23, 2012
I stand by
that observation I made on Monday Night.
On to the
remaining days of the campaign.
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