Ahead of tonight's third and final presidential debate, the Obama campaign releases a new ad making the case that by ending the war in Iraq and putting in a place a plan to end the war in Afghanistan, he has put America in a stronger position to focus on rebuilding its own economy:



A decade of war that cost us dearly and now for president a clear choice. President Obama ended the Iraq war. Mitt Romney would have left 30,000 troops in Iraq and called bringing them home tragic. Obama's brought 30,000 soldiers back from Afghanistan and has a responsible plan to end the war. Romney calls it Obama's 'biggest mistake'. It's time to stop fighting over there and start rebuilding here.

The phrase "strength through peace" comes to mind: there's a long history of presidential candidates trying to prove their toughness by embracing military adventurism (for example, Mitt Romney), but President Obama is making the case that America will become stronger by reducing its military footprint. It's not an embrace of pacifism or anything close to it—there's no doubt he will tout his success in killing Al Qaeda's top leadership, including Osama bin Laden—but it is an embrace of a smart and responsible national security policy, one that recognizes that recklessly spilling American blood and treasure undermines our national strength, not just overseas, but also at home.

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