PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE #3

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 21^stcentury.

Just recently the Navy celebrated its 237^th 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.