Obama Versus Romney on the Middle East

"If you have been following the presidential campaigns lately, you would be excused for missing the candidates' ideas about foreign policy. America is still conducting the longest war in its history, is witnessing a shift in global power eastwards, is apparently impotent in the face of an imminent collapse of the Eurozone, is paying historically high commodity prices, and is standing by as the Middle East transforms. But in both the Republican and Democratic Party conventions, all that and more seemed to matter little in the face of one thing: the Economy. But foreign policy also matters, especially in a global environment that is challenging American hegemony; and Middle East policy matters a lot - a region important not just for its oil but because it is undergoing seismic social and political transformations."