subbing sound of absence and nothingness where there used to be the republican contribution to the foreign policy debate in this country. and that absence has been going on for five plus years now. there is just nothing there in terms of what the republican party is offering on foreign policy. they re not participating in foreign policy debates. yes, they re trying to make a scandal out of benghazi. that doesn t count. today, though, the question was called as to how long we are going to keep not having a credible two-sided debate in this country about the use of military force and the wars and the foreign policy of this country. because today in a major announcement from the rose garden, president obama announced that the country is, in his words, turning a page when it comes to our role in the world since 9/11. it s time to turn the page on more than a decade in which so much of our foreign policy was focused on the wars in afghanistan and iraq. when i took office, we had
very cute video, to be hon e. nothing frustrates biden more on the 2016 front than when it comes to foreign or economic policy, he believes he s much nor in tuned with where today s democratic party is than the clintons . biden and clinton were regularly on the opposite side of the foreign policy debates with biden usually falling on the side of less force or smaller military footprints, where the democratic party is. he gets no respect in the west wing or from national democrats who insist on thinking of him as fun uncle joe prone to bidenisms like this one on tuesday on sacramento mayor and former nba star kevin johnson. and told the president next game i have him, just remember i may be a white boy, but i can jump. there s no love lost between biden and the president s political team. biden is especially burdened by the fact that after being
libya east of the country. among the dead was a u.s. ambassad ambassador. it s the focus of foreign policy debates. a cnn investigation goes in search of the truth about benghazi. arwa damon talks with a person of interest who says u.s. officials have never questioned him. watch this. translator: that night when did you arrive and what did you see? translator: this is a journalists interview or an interrogation? translator: it s an interview. when we we drew and they were smohooting with medium gun and people panicked, we tried to control traffic. translator: did anyone from the american or libya government
and hagel will understand like the people in afghanistan now you re not really spending your day involved in geopolitical abstractions of foreign policy debates, you re there for your own survival and survival of the man or woman next to you, it s focused on day-to-day realities something hagel underwent in vietnam unlike afghanistan unpopular. vietnam wildly controversial. iraq and afghanistan, more importantly, the whole relationship between american society and the military has changed, far more positive in the way we look upon these people who made this extraordinary sacrifice and extraordinary commitment. still, this is a difficult time. chuck hagel will be there and i think he will be there, get confirmed and be there for most of the winding down of afghanistan, a residual force, a few thousand people. more important, just as important, he will be there for serious budget cutting. the biggest challenge facing the secretary of defense how to go
advantage. that is the nature of the foreign policy debates. now about turnout and early voting. sure and look, i actually think a lot of talk about momentum in this race where the momentum is and isn t. the race has returned to where it with you before the conventions. i agree with that. i told some of my democratic friends after the conventions ended and the president opened up a slight lead, don t believe it we have to run this race. you had no idea he was going to blow the first debate? the president has talked about his performance in the first debate. regardless, i think the race has tightened and it s even and i think any talk about momentum is a i think both campaigns are fooling themselves if they think momentum is a factor. dead even and sitting here with michael and reflecting back on 2000 i think people understand what dead even means and both sides know every vote counts. even though the romney campaign is gi giving the air that how momentum will carry them thr