It would be funny if it weren't so dangerous. At a time of multiple geopolitical crises, with the Middle East a literal powder keg, we just had the presumptive presidential nominee of a major party making his international debut like the worst caricature of the ugly American.
Who knows how much it matters in our insular media and political culture? Which is wildly ironic at a time when events are more globally inter-connected than ever. But the sheer embarrassment factor of Mitt Romney's bumblefest through Britain, Israel, and Poland -- a much simpler tour than then Senator Barack Obama's flawless 2008 trek through Iraq, Afghanistan, Jordan, Israel, Britain, France, and Germany -- has to hurt him as a plausible president. I don't think most Americans want a relative rube representing them on the global stage.
In Poland, last stop on his un-magical mystery tour, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney simply ignored shouted questions from reporters. Asked why Romney had taken just three questions from American reporters during the entire week-long trip, traveling Romney press secretary Rick Gorka offered this bon mot: "Shove it."
The Oh My God comedy factor of Romney's multiple gaffes in London, the easiest of his three stops on his un-magical mystery tour is one thing (more about that later). The real damage to the US came in stop number two, Israel, where Romney insulted Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims, pouring gasoline on the fire surrounding American efforts to play some sort of brokering role in several burning crises.
By the time Romney got to Poland, where he gave his big speech to a small and tepid crowd of bureaucrats and academics in a library at Warsaw University -- no Berlin Victory Column throng of 200,000, as turned out to see Obama in 2008, for the former leveraged buyout artist -- it had all congealed into Romney dodging the American press and his press secretary cursing them for asking questions.
But why should there be any surprise about Romney's dreadful performance as a would-be president?
I watched almost every one of the Republican presidential debates. It was clear that Romney had only the slightest ability to discuss geopolitics beyond shallow bumper sticker stuff. Which is very weird, considering he's one of the richest people ever to run for president and hasn't held any office for years, giving him plenty of opportunity to learn something serious.
It's also no surprise to anyone who watched or read his supposed geopolitical "vision" speech last week in Reno, Nevada at the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention. (A very ironic venue for Romney, who avoided the Vietnam War when he was of age -- and vociferously all for the war, in terms of talk -- skipping off to France as a Mormon missionary, a misbegotten mission to be sure. Four decades after the Romney mission, the Mormon presence in France is close to non-existent. But France is a cool place to hang out when there's a war on.)
Did Romney have anything of sophistication and significance to say about the bubbling, and potentially lethal, current crises in the Persian Gulf and the South China Sea? He had nothing to say on the latter, though he wants to "get tough" with China in general. On the former, he seems to want a war with Iran, which he claims is the greatest threat in the world.
How would Romney know? He was gung ho for the invasion of Iraq, one of the most boneheaded strategic moves in history, which removed the principal counter-weight to the ayatollahs that Romney now rails against. Romney's own professed policy created the threat that he says is the most important in the world, so his assessments can't be taken seriously.
This is just ridiculous. America's in the early phase of a big geopolitical pivot from over-engagement with the Islamic world of the Middle East and Central Asia to increased engagement with the rising Asia Pacific region. This is a time requiring serious people and serious thinking. You can see my archive of articles on the pivot here.
Instead of putting up a serious thinker, the Republicans have Mitt Romney.
He never recovered from his gaffes in criticizing British Olympic preparations as he was about to meet with Britain's leaders, from forgetting the name of the Labour Party leader with whom he had just met, nor from violating long established protocol by disclosing his confidential courtesy meeting with the head of MI6, Britain's Special Intelligence Service.
"Mitt the Twit" was one of the kinder headlines about Romney's gaffe-filled debut on the international stage, and that was in the conservative Sun tabloid owned (still) by Rupert Murdoch.
The obvious move to recover was to distract, and Romney certainly distracted on Sunday, breathtakingly declaring that America's top national security priority must be that of Israel and its current government, the most conservative in the nation's history.
Romney on Sunday said that America's top priority in national security is that of the current Israeli government, headed by his old friend and business colleague, Prime Minister Bibi Netanyah. He said that preventing an Iranian nuclear weapon "must be our highest national security priority."
Romney's very old friend, Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, worked with the financier/politician learning the managing consulting and finance businesses at Boston Consulting Group in the '70s. And everything Romney says is geared to go along with the priorities of Netanyahu's Israeli government, the most conservative in the history of the Jewish state.
Romney said that preventing an Iranian nuclear weapon "must be our highest national security priority."
This makes an already very complex and very tense Gulf crisis all the more so.
Romney is trying to rally a hawkish conservative Republican base vote, much of it fundamentalist Christian, with his backing of military strikes against the Iranian nuclear program and to peel just enough Jewish votes away from Obama to narrowly swing one or two swing states.
By saying that America's top defense priority is actually that of Israel, Romney seeks to give Obama less room to maneuver in an already very tight corner, made all the tighter by Iran's intransigence refusing to cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog agency.
But is preventing an Iranian nuke really the most important thing in the world for the US?
Are there ways to further contain Iran?
And when, if ever, will Romney ever address the obvious questions of what would happen if strikes against Iran took place?
Fresh from this incitement, Romney went on to claim that the massive Israeli economic edge over Palestinians is due to a superior culture, "neglecting" to mention the massive restrictions on trade exercised over the Palestinian Authority by Israel as part of its occupation and insulting Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims in the process.
Romney also got his specific facts wrong as well, no surprise, saying that per capita GDP for Israelis is only twice that of Palestinians, when it is actually 20 times as great.
By the time he got to Poland, Romney was simply ignoring shouted questions from reporters. Asked why Romney had taken just three questions from American reporters during the entire week-long trip, traveling Romney press secretary Rick Gorka had this clever reply: "Shove it."
Meanwhile, with the Mitt Romney Festival of Gaffedom having moved on, Ann Romney stayed on in London. She has a role at these Games, too, though it's not an especially athletic one.
Ann Romney is part-owner with two other rich women of a horse entered in the dressage portion of the equestrian competition. The horse's rider, a German emigre, is her personal riding tutor.
She hopes for a gold medal, though, if her part-owned horse wins, because the owners get the awards even though they do not actually compete.
I think she is much better off if she does not get an Olympic medal in this way, don't you?
You can check things during the day on my site, New West Notes ... www.newwestnotes.com.
William Bradley Huffington Post Archive
| 1 | United States | 46 | 29 | 29 |
| 2 | China | 38 | 27 | 23 |
| 3 | Russia | 24 | 26 | 32 |
| 4 | Great Britain | 29 | 17 | 19 |
| 5 | Germany | 11 | 19 | 14 |
| 6 | Japan | 7 | 14 | 17 |
My latest, "London's Grand Olympics, On and Off the Track."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-bradley/londons-grand-olympics-on_b_1773009.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-bradley/gore-vidal-remembering-a-_b_1739575.html
80 percent of historic Palestine became Jordan.
And a funny thing, if you look at what actually was famous under the name "Palestine" early last century, a ton of it was Jewish.
The Palestine Post was a Jewish newspaper. It became the Jerusalem Post.
The Palestine Symphony Orchestra, the only major orchestra in that entire region, was also Jewish. They renamed themselves the Israeli Philharmonic.
Etc.
Anyway, that's all in the past. It's 2012 now and in an ideal world, everyone would respect each other.
I'm not getting into a big thing on Israel, which is hardly my thing. But I don't think this is useful comment from you.
Given the incredible, breathtakingly amateurish and dangerous behavior by Mr. Romney and his clearly incompetent staff, I have to take a break and concentrate upon the "whimsical" section of the piece, that is Mrs. Romney's part ownership of a dressage horse in competition. Noting that she and the other owners will get also medals if the horse and its rider earn one, Mr. Bradley suggests that it might not be such a good idea for her to "earn" a medal in this fashion. I must respectfully disagree. Profiting by virtue of doing absolutely nothing other than owning an asset, resource or tool (the horse), is precisely the kind of economic activity favored by Mr. and Mrs. Romney; therefore, they would almost certainly celebrate Mrs. Romney's "victory" with pride, all the while pointing out how much hard work (and virtue) pays off. Their socioeconomic class, the only people who really matter to the Romney's, will no doubt celebrate right along with Mr. and Mrs. Romney, illuminating again how much they really understand the average American's situation.
It would certainly be enlightening for Ann Romney to win an Olympic medal as a part-owner of a horse going through ornate maneuvers, watching from the stands. But it wouldn't make her a real Olympian, and would piss off those who actually have competed and know what it is to strive for true athletic excellence.
In other words, it would illuminate precisely what you suggest, something decidedly not good for her husband's hopes except among the entitled.
I also hope that the majority of American voters weigh in with their feelings about entitlement and crass displays of arrogance when November rolls around.
That's why Israel hasn't found peace. Not because of some apartment buildings on a patch of empty desert. Because Israel's neighbors are... countries like Syria.
Hamas is only in charge in Gaza, which has been radicalized during the occupation.
The former PLO is in charge of the rest of it, except for the fact that Israel continues to control the borders and economy.
But, Hamas won the national Palestinian elections. They are who the Palestinians voted for, more than any other candidate.
DIRECT QUOTE OF THIS, PLEASE? And in context, please.
I don't see that Romney actually said this.
That's okay ... I don't think you'd understand what it meant if you did.
to ask for a direct quote
Romney does not only not deny the widely reported facts, he revels in them.
B. Romney not only does not deny it, he revels in it.
C. This is widely reported.
D. Since you are the third "commenter" to repeat this canard, I do not appreciate the campaign to waste my time with nonsense.
Nowhere in the embedded link does he say that.
He said it in Israel, he said it in Reno.
You then repeated the line that
"Romney on Sunday said that America's top priority in national security is that of the current Israeli government, "
directly below an embedded video, where he again DID NOT say that.
You may in fact be correct that he did say that, but every bit of 'proof' you have shown does not verify that.
Not to be rude, but is this just sloppiness on your part or a deliberate effort to mislead?
If he did then, please, give us a link to the quote. If you cannot then, fine, be in peace, please. Don't mislead.
Mitt says enough stupid stuff that I see no need to distort his words. (And yes, I am aware that he has made distorting Obama's words a centerpiece of his campaign.)
>>> Romney on Sunday said that America's top priority in national security is that of the current Israeli government, headed by his old friend and business colleague, Prime Minister Bibi Netanyah. He said that preventing an Iranian nuclear weapon "must be our highest national security priority."
I don't recall even FDR declaring anything like that with regard to Britain, even as it quite demonstrably was "existentially threatened" by Nazi Germany in World War II.
What a buffoon!
>>> In Poland, last stop on his un-magical mystery tour, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney simply ignored shouted questions from reporters. Asked why Romney had taken just three questions from American reporters during the entire week-long trip, traveling Romney press secretary Rick Gorka offered this bon mot: "Shove it."
Romney's gaffe-a-thon went unnoticed by them.
Hopefully it is a preview of how he will perform in the debates.
Was Senator Obama's foreign trip as a presidential candidate a big fundraiser, too?
Fundraising was not a major component of Obama's 2008 trip, which was far more wide-ranging than this.