Politics 2012: Travels With Mitt Romney

Romney (Photo credit: Talk Radio News Service)

When you're running for President of the United States, it's almost mandatory to take a trip overseas and burnish your foreign policy credentials by visiting some of America's allies, and maybe sneak over to a military base to greet the troops.  And when you get back home, you're hoping the voters will see you in a different light.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney did make that trip, with stops in London, Israel and Poland.  He came home looking like a fool.

• In England, Romney didn't think much of London's preparations for the Olympic Games.  This comes from a man who ran the scandal-plagued 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, which British prime minister David Cameron considered the "middle of nowhere".
• In Israel before a group of donors, Romney claimed that the country's culture is the reason why they have an economic advantage over the Palestinians.  Actually, pressure from the Israeli military has more to do with why most Palestinians can't seem to earn a living.

To be sure, Romney had a much better time of it in Poland, where President Barack Obama is not as popular as he used to be.  But the damage has already been done.  Throw in some stiff-arming of the American media who were covering his trip, including an aide who told reporters to "kiss my ass", and there you have it.


As Romney awaits his anointment as the GOP's standard bearer in Tampa, Florida a few weeks from now, he has some work to do to convince folks that he can be a better President than Obama.  A recent CBS News/New York Times poll indicates that the current President has a slight lead in the battleground states of Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania.

Another mark against Romney is his transparency (or lack of it) when it comes to his business dealings.  He doesn't say much about his time at Bain Capital, a private equity firm.  He has also yet to release his federal tax returns for the last couple of years, leading some Democrats to speculate there's a lot more he's hiding.

And Romney has yet to make his vice-presidential choice, though one would think he'd wait until after the Olympics and before the convention to do that.  From what we've been hearing, none of the rumored candidates have a remote resemblance to Sarah Palin.

But don't count Romney out.  He reminds us of another Republican candidate who said outrageous things and didn't make too many friends outside the United States.  His name was George W. Bush.  He was elected to two terms.