A modest proposal for President Obama in Monday's foreign policy debate:
Express outrage at Romney's policy position on some obscure foreign hotspot.
What, you say? Romney doesn't have a position on said obscure foreign hotspot?
Exactly. That's the beauty of it.
Hear me out… below the squiggle...
Romney is very good at regurgitating talking points. He's not as good thinking on his feet when caught off-guard.
He and his debate prep team will have practiced responses on all the major foreign policy topics Bob Schieffer is likely to bring up.
I propose that President Obama throw a curveball.
In one of his answers, Obama should work in the fact that he is also quite concerned about Romney's position on Country X (something more obscure that Schieffer will not be asking about and Romney will not have studied). It could be a foreign policy situation in which there are two legitimate viewpoints and Obama will stake Romney to the opposite viewpoint. It doesn't matter whether Romney ever actually endorsed that viewpoint in his campaign.
Obama will say this in such a way that Bob Schieffer is obliged to follow-up with Romney: "Is that your position on Country X? Where are your disagreements on this?"
Here's the beauty of it:
If you're wondering if Obama will be in trouble for making up a policy position for Romney that Romney has not expressed, the answer is no. Romney has created so much confusion with his shifting positions that the Obama campaign has plausible deniability ("He's changed so many positions. We are sure one of his policy advisers expressed this viewpoint…")
And, if this goes as planned, it won't matter where Obama got the idea that this was Romney's position on Country X. Because all the media will be talking about is Romney's response.
And what will Romney's response be?
Assuming he does not have a position on Country X and has not studied the issues in depth (a fair bet), Romney has two choices:
1. State honestly "The President is mistaken. I do not have a position on Country X"
WHAT? You're running for President and don't have a position on Country X?
2. (The more likely choice, given Romney's personality) He will stammer, flip through his mental rolodex trying to remember if he has a position on Country X and what it is, and stumble through some kind of answer that will be wrong in, oh, so many ways.
It could be a beautiful, deer in the headlights moment that will define the debate forever. And it would be so easy to do.
Now, I don't know which Country X is obscure enough that Romney would not have studied it but controversial enough that there could be two opposing positions but I'm hopeful the President's team could come up with something.