mission. we re now under 285. reporter: obama brusquely dismissed romney as a clueless neophyte in national security. well, governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets because the nature of our military has changed. reporter: country after country, crisis after crisis they slugged it out. the president offered a dramatic contrast. when i came into office, the world was divided. iran was resurgent. iran is at its weakest point economically, strategically, militarily than since than in many years. when it comes to going after osama bin laden, you said well any president would make that call. but when you were a candidate in 2008 as i was, i said if i got bin laden in our sights, i would take that shot. you said we shouldn t move heaven and earth to get one man. reporter: mitt romney tried to undermine the president s osama bin laden triumph with a blunt line. i congratulate him on taking out osama bin laden and going after the leadership in al qaeda, but we can t kill
voters now have just two weeks to make up their minds, and abc s terry moran takes a look at the last debate as we head into the homestretch. [ applause ] [cheers and applause] reporter: the two men who would be president squared off for the last time. leadership, the real issue in every presidential debate. and president obama launched a direct attack on whether mitt romney is ready to be leader of the free world. here s one thing i ve learned as commander in chief. you ve got to be clear, both to our allies and our enemies about where you stand. reporter: romney said obama is simply not demonstrating presidential leadership. attacking me is not talking about how we are going to deal with the challenges in the middle east. reporter: romney accused the president of undermining american strength by not spending enough on defense. our navy is smaller now than any time since 1917. the navy said they needed 313 ships to carry out their mission. we re now under 285. reporter