Photo courtesy AP (c) 2012

SAN NARCISO, Calif. (Bennington Vale Evening Transcript) -- President Barack Obama on Tuesday admonished the U.N. General Assembly to take a firm stance against violence and extremism, arguing that religious rights and free speech must be upheld as global responsibilities and not merely U.S. obligations. In an effort to stress the urgency of suppressing deadly protests that have erupted over perceived anti-Islamic sentiment, the president said "the impulse towards intolerance and violence" will not be contained if allowed to flourish over time. Mr. Obama underscored his message with examples of ongoing racial inequalities, abuses of women's rights, theocratic discrimination against religious diversity, despots who neglect or massacre their people to protect cronies and regime-friendly elites, and the inevitable cycles of sectarian violence likely to rise in the wake. Although the president's speech was delivered to world leaders, and was meant to address specific crises in the Arab world, tentative Republican voters confused Obama's descriptions of Syria, Egypt and Libya with Mitt Romney's campaign platform. The GOP challenger's polling numbers plummeted significantly as a result, according to reports Friday.

The foundation of Obama's speech was built on the premise of constitutional protections for freedom of speech, even if that freedom comes at the price of offense. He also acknowledged the inability to control information in the digital age. "Anyone with a cellphone can spread offensive views around the world with the click of a button," he noted.

And again, although President Obama was referring to the ubiquity and immediacy of social media, voters drew a parallel to Rep. Todd Akin's "legitimate rape" comments and former Gov. Romney's countless gaffes about corporations being people, his love of firing employees, his lack of concern "about the very poor," his storied disdain for 47 percent of Americans, how being born to Mexican parents would have ensured his presidency, how he too feels the sting of being "unemployed," and of course his confusion about the purpose of airplane windows.

Political analysts and pollsters suspect that the undecided voters tuned into the president's U.N. address late and then dropped out early, never fully comprehending that Mr. Obama was not discussing his opponent's beliefs or political policies.

"Taken out of context, it would be understandably confusing," surmised political pundit Ferrel Michaels. "I really believe prospective voters made their decisions when President Obama called on the world to 'reject extremism' quickly because 'time is not unlimited.' Romney's stated ideologies speak for themselves, and with the election just weeks away, time is indeed running out."

Michaels went on to explain that "when Obama mentioned 'the need for all of us to address honestly the tensions' related to the 'events of the last two weeks,' and then referenced 'hateful speech,' it would've been easy to assume he was talking about Mitt's very public loathing of almost half the country."

In an interesting follow up, several of the world leaders in attendance -- particularly delegates from Great Britain and Palestine, who were deeply offended by Romney's critiques of their countries during his goodwill foreign policy tour -- said they too thought President Obama was talking about Mitt Romney.

(c) 2012. See disclaimers.