Election is a matter of trust - Obama

US: President Barack Obama framed the election Tuesday as a question of trust and warned American voters that they cannot rely on his “reckless” and elusive Republican foe Mitt Romney.

“I do what I say, you’ve seen me,” an impassioned Obama told a big crowd in Florida, hours after his final debate clash with Romney effectively fired the starting gun on a frenzied two-week sprint to election day. Obama also debuted a book detailing his second term agenda and unveiled a new ad laying out his closing argument for the election, telling Americans it was an honor to be their president and asking for four more years.

The president’s beseeching tone and the new urgency in his appeals reflected the fact that three debates failed to sink Romney’s campaign and signs that it is the Republican, not Obama, who has momentum in the tight race.

Obama sought to nail Romney as a political shape shifter after his opponent in the November 6 election presented himself as a sober man of peace in their final debate Monday, toning down previously hawkish foreign policy positions.

He diagnosed the Republican as suffering from “stage three Romnesia,” accusing him of misrepresenting and simply forgetting a litany of past positions in a win-at-all costs effort to seize the White House.

“We are accustomed to seeing politicians change their positions from four years ago, we are not accustomed to seeing politicians change their positions from four days ago,” Obama told a rowdy 11,000 strong crowd. “You can choose the foreign policy that’s reckless and wrong, or you can choose one that is steady and strong.”

AFP