The British Press Mocks Romney’s “Olympic Gaffe”

The Republican candidate for the American presidential election’s visit across the channel was characterized by culminating embroilments, which were extensively covered in the press this Friday.

His visit should have allowed Mitt Romney to assert his international stature during the heart of his campaign for the American presidential election. The Republican candidate went to London on Wednesday, two days before the Summer Olympic Games kicked off. Hardly had he placed a foot on the ground on the other side of the channel when Barack Obama’s challenger made a faux pas: In an interview for the television channel NBC, broadcast Wednesday night — on the night before his meeting with the Prime Minister David Cameron — he described the “troubling” and “bleak” failures of a private company in charge of ensuring security for the Olympics and the strike — finally cancelled — of immigration and British customs agents.

Worse, Mitt Romney was openly asked about the current British infatuation with the Olympics “Do they come together and celebrate the Olympic moment?” he asked. “…That’s something which we only find out once the Games actually begin.”

Screw You

This gaffe, although hugely criticized, seems to have had an unexpected impact on Her Majesty’s subjects. In The Telegraph, specialist historian of the United States Dr. Tim Stanley calls, with lots of humor, for his fellow citizens to mock this foreigner. “Even though most of us associate the Olympics with traffic jams and tourists, a foreigner’s criticism will compel us to pretend to enjoy it.”

“The 2012 event will probably go down in history as the Screw You Mitt Romney Games — when the entire country came together to prove some bouffant-haired businessman from Yankee Land that we know perfectly well how to throw a party,” he continues.

Not one to hold a grudge, the historian also reminds us that the Democrat Barack Obama has already, himself, committed several faux pas. He offers the example of the DVD box set which the American president gave to Gordon Brown in 2009. “For goodness sake, he was meeting a British Prime Minister, not handing his nephew a gift on Boxing Day.” Tim Stanley also appeals to readers to not unduly exaggerate this controversy, underlining that some of Romney’s criticisms, notably those on questions of security, have generated lively debate, including in the UK.

Furthermore, Mitt Romney has certain legitimacy to the issue: To be a good sport, the British papers have reminded us that the former businessman and multimillionaire was called to the rescue of the Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City in 2002, which was beset by financial difficulties.

Riposte

However, “the perfidious Albion” does not intend to stop here. On Thursday, not long before their meeting, the Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron retorted by assuring that, “I think we’ll show the whole world not just that we’ve come together as a United Kingdom,” but also that the British are “extremely good at welcoming people from across the world.” Cameron added, “We are holding an Olympic Games in one of the busiest, most active, bustling cities anywhere in the world. Of course, it’s easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere.” This is a scathing allusion to the Salt Lake City Olympics — a sting that seems to have irritated the Salt Lake City mayor, who offered to welcome Cameron “to the middle of nowhere” with a map.

For his part, Romney backtracked, highlighting “the enthusiasm” that he observed among the British during the Olympic torch relay — an “embarrassing about face” according to The Independent, which mentioned “a distinctly undiplomatic first impression” for the possible future head of state.

Hitting a raw nerve, London Mayor Boris Johnson has, for his part, used the party organized at Hyde Park on Thursday that celebrated the arrival of the Olympic flame to respond personally to the impertinent American. The Daily Mail delighted in this “disastrous day for Romney” and recounts the words of the mayor of the British capital. In front of 60,000 people, Boris Johnson harangued the crowd: “I hear there is a guy called Mitt Romney who wants to know whether we’re ready. Are we ready? Are we ready? Yes we are!” he pretended to ask the receptive and enthusiastic crowd.

“Same Anglo-Saxon Heritage”

Mitt Romney is not the only one to blame for this diplomatic imbroglio. One of his advisers also explained to the Daily Telegraph that Romney and Cameron share “…an Anglo-Saxon heritage, and he feels that the special relationship is special,” an implicit allusion to the Kenyan origins of Barack Obama.

According to the Guardian, the Republican team has subsequently denied that one of its members made such comments and tried henceforth to “patch things up,” in particular vis-a-vis American voters. To top it all off, the daily left-wing newspaper recounts Romney’s meeting with Labor leader Ed Miliband, during which the Republican called his host “Mister Leader,” which the Guardian took as a sign that he had forgotten his name and qualified as “a potential gift” for the Obama camp.

In the meantime, the tabloid The Sun prefers to close this transatlantic squabble by summing up the British position: “You will see what you will see.”*

*Editor’s note: The original quote was “You will see Britain can deliver.”