The Obama campaign is wasting hundreds of millions ofdollars on attack ads targeting Republican challenger Mitt Romney. Save yourmoney, folks: the former Massachusetts governor needs little help in savaginghis own reputation and prestige. What’s even better, just about every newsorganisation in the world is showing it for free. After just three days inLondon, on a tour that was supposed to demonstrate his qualities as a statesmanand a leader, a chastened Romney leaves the United Kingdom widely reviled as alaughing stock and, worse, a “wazzock” “ whatever that is.
It was not only Romney’s widely publicized remarks that theBritish capital did not seem ready for the Games; that, at least, had the meritof bringing Londoners together for once in support of the great world sportingextravaganza. After months of “whinging” about everything from traffic snarlsto anti-aircraft missiles installed on apartment rooftops, thousands of newlyenthusiastic Brits thundered their approval when London Mayor Boris Johnsonasked, “Are we ready?”
Johnson then led the crowd in a chant of “Yes, we can” “ anobvious tribute to US President Barack Obama, whose 2008 campaign resounded tothe same cry. Romney repeatedly demonstrated why his handlers should never,ever let him out of their sight: in a press conference outside No. 10 DowningStreet, he proudly touted his productive meetings with “the head of MI6.” Thisgave British officials heart palpitations: the super-secret intelligence agencyis, by tacit agreement, almost never mentioned in public, and no one on theBritish side would confirm that such a meeting took place.
The series of gaffes prompted one of Britain’s newspapers,The Examiner, to ask a rather pointed question, “Why vote for a man who, on hisfirst foreign trip as a presidential candidate, insults one of America’sstaunchest allies and can’t even keep a secret? Asked another way, is MittRomney ready to be president?”
One can only hope, for Romney’s sake, that his visit toIsrael visit will be a bit more scripted than the London fiasco. But given thenumerous landmines that dot the political landscape in the Middle East, thingscould get tense. Team Obama, keep your cameras at the ready.
