As at Home

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s recent international tour is considered very unfortunate in the world. And all because in his speeches, he turned not to the hospitality of his hosts, but to the voters back home.

World reaction to Mitt Romney’s international excursion to Europe and the Middle East is unanimous: Commentators say it was a complete failure. Technically this assessment is correct — even George W. Bush did not make as many mistakes in such a short period of time. In London, Romney reproached his hosts for being completely unprepared to hold the Olympic Games, which brought a wave of criticism from the British press and enraged David Cameron, who said, “it’s easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere.” (Romney, recall, oversaw the organizing committee for the Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City in 2002.)

In Israel, Romney made another seemingly unforgivable mistake by calling Jerusalem the capital of Israel and promising full support to the country in a possible war with Iran. Most countries in the world do not recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital. As for Romney’s militant position on Iran, many thought it was counterproductive in light of the international community’s efforts to mix power with promise in its efforts to curtail Iran’s nuclear program. Then, in Israel, Romney infuriated Arabs when he suggested that the difference in the economic development of Israel and the Palestinian territories may be associated with cultural differences between Jews and Arabs.

Finally, completing his tour abroad in Poland, he made a statement that caused extreme displeasure in Moscow. Comparing Russia with Poland in their paths to democracy, Romney praised the Polish and criticized Russia saying, “…in Russia, once-promising advances toward a free and open society have faltered. Earlier, he called Russia the No. 1 geopolitical foe for the U.S.

However, the evaluation of the foreign tour, made by experts outside the U.S., is wrong since it was made taking into account the standards applied to visits from heads of state. Of course the chances of Romney winning the election are high. Nevertheless, as long as he remains a presidential candidate, all of his speeches, no matter where they are given, will be addressed primarily to his voters. And he did not offend them in any of his speeches. His words were music to the ears of the American Irish, who hate the English even more than the Irish in Ireland. His statement about Israel and Iran must have pleased American Jews. And his speech in Warsaw, surely, was met with enthusiasm not only by voters of Polish origin, but by those from anywhere in Eastern and Central Europe.