Romney Fails the Character Test

Romney has finally lost the election. That’s one point on which famous satirist Bill Maher and several political observers agree. Romney’s reaction to the attacks in Cairo and Benghazi that resulted in the deaths of the U.S. ambassador to Libya along with several staff members showed beyond doubt that in such crisis situations, Romney was in over his head. Maher’s assessment was taken completely seriously, even making it into the headlines of the noted political publication Politico.

Instead of staying silent as all other presidential candidates have done in similar situations — Ronald Reagan, for example, only asked the nation to pray for those killed in Jimmy Carter’s abortive attempt to rescue the hostages in Iran in 1979 — Romney went on the attack. Instead of issuing a statesman-like response to the attacks in Cairo and Benghazi, Romney immediately attacked Obama’s reaction, saying he was apologizing for American values instead of condemning the perpetrators.

It was an obvious attempt by Romney to convince his followers of his superior moral strength and patriotism.

Missing the Mark

There’s something wrong with Romney’s position here, as has been repeatedly pointed out by a large segment of the American media, including even the conservative Wall Street Journal. Obama’s “apology” wasn’t an apology; furthermore, it didn’t come from the White House at all. It was a statement issued by the embassy in Cairo.

Additionally, it wasn’t a reaction to the attacks but an attempt to explain America’s official position on the anti-Muslim film and had been released several hours before the attacks had even taken place. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Obama both sharply criticized the rioting and refuted Romney’s statement.

If Romney Had Been President…

Meanwhile, it is increasingly clear that the demonstrations in Cairo were carried out by radical Muslims protesting Islam’s treatment by the U.S., while the attacks in Benghazi were in all likelihood part of a targeted terrorist attack planned and carried out by groups linked to al-Qaida.

So Bill Maher was right: Anyone who issues stupid statements, engages in polemics and talks irresponsible nonsense as Romney did, only brings discredit upon himself. One blogger summed it up neatly, saying that Romney’s campaign to get Obama reelected was making great strides forward.

Neither the criticism nor the facts have moved Romney to retreat from his position. On the contrary, he has allowed his campaign team to talk him into continuing as usual. Richard Williamson, one of his top advisors, even told the Washington Post two days after the attacks that things would have been a lot different had Romney been president. “For the first time since Jimmy Carter, we’ve had an American ambassador assassinated.” Williamson added, “In Egypt and Libya and Yemen, again demonstrations — the respect for America has gone down, there’s not a sense of American resolve and we can’t even protect sovereign American property.” The implication was that had Romney been president, the rioters would never have dared to storm the embassy.

The respect, if that’s the criterion, had obviously been absent for a long time before the attacks ever happened. In contrast to Romney’s propaganda, President Obama has spoken softly and carried a big stick; he has sent U.S. troops into foreign countries in order to protect American lives — not necessarily a positive action since it can be viewed as military provocation. Obama certainly has not hesitated to act decisively as commander in chief.

Republicans have been completely different. They didn’t just recently become so presumptive as to make ridiculous statements; from day one they have shown the president little or no respect. They actually continue to maintain that he has no right to be president, saying he’s not even an American and accusing him of secretly being a Muslim — and, most recently, of being a homosexual. Republicans in Kansas even recently tried to get his name excluded from election ballots.

Romney is silent in the face of such disrespectful behavior. Four years ago, when John McCain was running for the presidency, he reacted completely differently, telling one critic that Obama was an honorable American. McCain wanted nothing to do with the crude speculations of his party’s far right wing. He passed the character test for candidates with flying colors, while Romney has already received several failing grades in that respect.

Meanwhile, Romney made yet another faux pas in characterizing Obama voters as “victims.” Romney told an audience of wealthy contributors that nearly half of all Americans saw themselves as victims who had a right to be financially supported by the government. He claimed his role as a candidate for the presidency was not to worry about those people. These comments were captured on video and later made public by a U.S. magazine.

Romney claimed, “There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what…” He continued by saying, “I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives. What I have to convince the 5 to 10 percent in the center that are independents that are thoughtful, that look at voting one way or the other depending upon in some cases emotion, whether they like the guy or not.”

At a hastily organized press conference Monday evening, Romney admitted his comments weren’t elegantly formulated and that he was speaking off the cuff. He said the entire video clip should be shown on the Internet, not just excerpts. He didn’t apologize for his remarks but sought to clarify them, saying he wanted to help all Americans and that Obama naturally would appeal to those who paid no taxes. He, on the other hand, wanted to lower taxes for everyone, especially the middle class. After the video went public, the number of tweets using the hashtag #RomneyEncore increased tremendously.