Importing foreign policies of the '80s, social policies of the '50s and economic policies of the '20s

Heated in Florida

By FRANK BRUNI, NYT

So that’s it? The last of the presidential debates? No, no, no. I’m already in mourning, can’t quiet my hankering for more and am not being remotely sarcastic. In a political culture as stage-managed, focus-grouped and airbrushed as ours, these debates gave us rare moments of rawness, not to mention Big Bird.

Last night’s face-off in Boca Raton was no exception. Any worry that the focus on foreign policy would tilt this encounter in a cerebral rather than visceral direction was dispelled within the first 15 minutes, during which the candidates sharply contradicted and talked over each other and President Obama, banishing his debacle in Denver once and for all, issued a denunciation of Mitt Romney more sweeping than any from the previous two presidential debates.

Turning toward his opponent, Obama said, “You seem to want to import the foreign policies of the 1980s, just like the social policies of the 1950s and the economic policies of the 1920s.” His eyes sparked with his obvious contempt for his rival, and his voice brimmed with it.

Romney smiled a thin and brittle smile: “Attacking me is not an agenda.” It was as good an answer as any, but he looked slightly unsteady as he delivered it. He had an odd color and an odder sheen, that of a man on a rickety boat in threatening seas.

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