President Barack Obama delivered an unapologetic defence of American values and his under-fire Arab Spring policy, speaking to US voters from a world stage at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.
His Republican foe Mitt Romney also muscled in on the hoopla surrounding the annual diplomatic gathering, striking a statesmanlike pose at the nearby New York event of ex-president Bill Clinton’s humanitarian organisation.
A week before they clash in their first presidential debate, and as the clock ticks down to the November 6 election with Obama enjoying a clear opinion poll edge, the rivals jousted for foreign policy advantage.
But the interlude was brief for both as Obama skipped back to Washington, with a flurry of trips planned to battleground states and Romney flew off to court undecided voters in the potentially crucial state of Ohio.
The president got an earful from critics for taping an appearance on ABC talk show The View reaching millions of women voters – instead of seeing leaders such as Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu and Egypt’s Mohamed Morsi.
Obama, painted by Republicans as an apologist for America and an appeaser of US enemies including Iran, was under pressure over his approach to the turmoil spawned by revolutions in the Arab world following recent anti-US attacks.