It's no secret that Mitt Romney, presumed Republican nominee for the 2012 Presidential elections did not have the best world tour last week. His trip to London was a PR disaster and his comments on Palestine on his trip to Jerusalem revealed his naiveté with regards to foreign policy, or at least Chicago mayor, Rahm Emmanuel thinks so. Mayor Emmanuel told the Los Angeles Times, the Governor of Massachusetts "made a mess of being a tourist" and that he fails at every level to "understand the political or intellectual basis," (www.latimes.com)
The reception he got in London might have been unexpected, but certainly not shocking. Given his comments on the Nation's Olympics preparation a week prior to his visit, the criticism and derision he received from the British press, public and even prime minister was only natural.
But Romney expressed his main concern being Romney's trip to Israel, Emmanuel, a Jewish American, told reporters, "Part of America's role is to be seen as between the Israelis and the Palestinians as somebody that can be an honest broker. Mitt Romney just showed that under his administration he would never be able to assume that role for the United States," as reported on latimes.com
In an attempt to woo Jewish voters, Romney paid a visit to Israel. On this trip he made a speech in Jerusalem in which he stated, that Israel was culturally superior. Of course, the Palestinians were angered by the remarks, Saeb Erekat, top aide to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, told the Washington Post, "All I can say is that this man needs a lot of education. He doesn't know the region, he doesn't know Israelis, he doesn't know Palestinians, and to talk about the Palestinians as an inferior culture is really a racist statement," (www.washingtonpost.com).
Later, Romney's campaign chief later clarifying that the remarks were not directed at the Palestinians.
Obama 2012 spokesperson Jen Psaki joined the criticism of Romney telling the Los Angeles Times, "He's been fumbling the foreign policy football from country to country. And there's a threshold question that he has to answer for the American people and that's whether he's prepared to be commander in chief."
However, the focus of Romney's campaign has been the economy and his campaign was quick to bring back the discourse to the subject, reminding constituents that Romney's main focus to repair the economy first and fore most. It remains to be seen whether his overseas fiasco will make a difference to voters opinion about the aspiring president.
