Nov 12, 2011 11:22 PM GMT
Nobody else in the GOP has a clue.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1111/68204.htmlIssues that traditionally have been a key point for Republican voters — national security and foreign policy — have been almost nonexistent in the nine debates to date among the Republicans who seek to replace President Barack Obama.
A POLITICO analysis of the topics discussed at the first nine major GOP debates of the 2008 race compared to this cycle’s shows just how stark the change has been: Talk of jobs has nearly tripled, talk of the economy has doubled. And mentions of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have fallen about 65 percent compared to this period four years ago.
In large part, that’s because 2012 is shaping up as another it’s-the-economy-stupid election. But Obama also has effectively shielded himself from some of the GOP’s toughest criticisms with a handful of high-profile overseas successes — such as the killing of Osama bin Laden and the overthrow of Libyan strongman Muammar Qadhafi — that makes it harder for the GOP to portray him as some babe-in-the-woods Democratic neophyte, as Hillary Clinton tried to do with her famous 3 a.m. ringing phone ad during the 2008 Democratic primary.