Familiar Foreign Policy

In class we discussed that political parties in a majority system compete for the median voter, meaning that the political platforms will converge in order to maximize votes. This seems to be the case in the foreign policy standpoints of the candidates in the upcoming election. The article claims that in the vice-presidential debates this past week, there was little difference between Ryan and Biden as they discussed world politics. Although the Libya question was an issue for Biden, the article says that most other critiques of the Obama Administration's tactics have been technical or time-line issues rather than ideological or strategic.

Likewise, it was noted that in Mitt Romney's address at the Virginia Military Institute, his plans showed more similarities than differences. Romney remained moderate, echoing a lot of policy already being executed by President Obama.

 This is one example of the similarities between the platforms of both parties. As the politicians vie for voters on each end of the political spectrum, their focus is appealing to the one in the middle. This is in line with the theory that the two parties would meet as closely as possible on the political spectrum in order to garner as many votes as possible from their side.