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As many of you know, I just returned from two and a half weeks in Armenia where I was working on the Early Bronze Age site of Shengavit in Yerevan. I had the opportunity to watch Romney's unfortunate tour of Britain, Israel, and Poland from the other side of the pond. Mitt Romney often says that he won't apologize for America. As an American who has lived abroad, I want a president whom I don't have to apologize for. After Mitt's disastrous trip, it is clear that he is not that person. In the course of just a few days, Mitt managed to offend the British, the Palestinians, and the Jews. I was particularly upset about Romney's remarks in Israel. His remarks about Palestinian culture received a lot of play in the media. Anyone who has spent any time in the Middle East knows that the Palestinians are a cultured and well-educated people. His remarks about the Jews were equally inept. He said something to the effect that the Jews are good at making money. Now where have a I heard that before? Terribly embarrassing and just plain racist.
As the Washington Post notes:
After an overseas trip that left the impression among some Americans and others abroad that the former Massachusetts governor is not ready to steer the country through perilous international waters, senior campaign officials acknowledged that they need to sharpen their message and its delivery.
Beyond the Olympic slights in London and comments in Jerusalem that offended Palestinians, one official said it was a mistake to leave reporters to focus on gaffes, limiting the traveling press corps’ access to the candidate to only three questions on his first day of meetings and not a single news conference after that.
Maureen Dowd comments that:
Mitt's foray showed some new colors, as he intended, but they were not flattering ones. We now know how little he knows about the world, how really slow on his feet he is, what meager social and political agility he has.
The
Economist chimes in:
If your aim on your first foreign trip as a candidate is to look plausibly presidential, avoiding obvious gaffes is the first step. So annoying your country’s closest ally by suggesting that it is not entirely ready for the Olympics, even before your first official meeting, is not a good start. Nor is it terribly impressive to go on to imply that Palestinian Arabs are in some way culturally inferior, or to refuse to answer more than three press questions on the whole trip while your media people tell disgruntled hacks that they can “kiss my ass”. From a presentational point of view, it was, as the critics said, a bit of a Romneyshambles.
And, finally, the
American Prospect:
In less than 72 hours, Romney and his team have offended British prime minister David Cameron over the country’s Olympics preparations, lied about or revealed confidential conversations with the Australian foreign minister, confused Russia with the “Soviet Union,” attacked President Obama with an oddly racialized criticism, and suffered the ridicule of 60,000 Britons. The Romney team began this trip with hopes that Romney would emerge as the picture of a seasoned, committed statesman. Instead, he looks like an amateur at best. At worst, he looks like a buffoon.
To this American abroad, Mitt's first foreign trip was one big embarrassment after another. I don't want to spent the next four years apologizing for Mitt.
So what has President Obama been up to while Romney was insulting some of our closest allies?
This week he signed a bill designed to servicemembers and their families. Here is a description of the bill:
First, the new law offers extended care to a group of servicemembers who were based at Camp Lejeune with their families during a period when contaminated water caused major medical issues for a number of individuals.
Among those standing with the President at today's bill signing were Jerry Ensminger, a Marine Corps veteran who has been an advocate for affected families, and Mike Partain, who was born at Camp Lejuene and later developed male breast cancer. The bill the President signed was named after Janey Ensminger, the Master Sargeant's daughter who passed away from leukemia at age nine.
Second, the law prohibits protests at military funerals in the two hours immediately prior to and following a military funeral -- a measure, the President said, that will ensure that our servicemembers get laid to rest with "the utmost honor and respect."
Here is a picture of our president signing the bill (photos from whitehouse.gov):
And here is a picture of President Obama in the white House kitchen garden:
Finally it is important to remember that while President Obama's tax plan will maintain the tax cuts for working and middle class Americans, Romney's plan would lower taxes on the rich while increasing the burden on the working and middle classes. It's Robin Hood in reverse: