Main focus of Wednesday, August 1, 2012

An end to Romney's blooper tour

Romney visited Gdansk at the invitation of former union leader Lech Wałęsa. (© AP/dapd)

US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney wound up his tour of Europe with a visit to Poland on Monday and Tuesday. He insulted the Olympics organisers in Britain and affronted Palestinians in Israel. A disastrous impression, commentators say, but it won't do him any harm in the election campaign back home.

Gaffes were deliberate

US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's trail of blunders across Europe was all calculated to appeal to Jewish and conservative voters, according Eric T. Hansen, a US satirist who lives in Germany, in the liberal weekly Die Zeit: "When Barack Obama was cheered like a rock star four years ago in Berlin his enemies back home accused him of sucking up to the Europeans. But then Obama's base voters are left-leaning educated people who look to Europe as a cultural role model. Meanwhile Romney's voters see Europe as decadent and reactionary. Which is why the Republican presented himself as someone who doesn't understand Europe and who can be utterly indifferent to it. Even his offensive remark that the Palestinians don't have the culture for economic success is part of his election ploy, designed to appeal to Jewish voters in the US. Aside from that he is a Mormon, and Mormons have always been strongly pro-Israel, because they still believe the Jews are God's chosen people." (01/08/2012)

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All available articles from » Eric T. Hansen

Blunders won't harm Romney's chances

The European tour of US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was a total flop, the state-owned liberal Wiener Zeitung writes, but adds that this won't affect his chances in the election campaign back home: "Whereas Obama was greeted like a saviour in Europe, the bland Republican candidate Mitt Romney has failed to win the hearts of the Europeans during his overseas tour. Even worse, the British were definitely 'not amused' by the manager of the Salt Lake City Olympics' criticism of the Olympic preparations in London. In Israel he alienated the Palestinians and in Poland his press spokesperson flipped out and swore at a journalist. So Romney's overseas trip, with its string of gaffes, wasn't exactly a success. … But luckily for Romney the dictum coined by Bill Clinton's election campaign strategist James Carville still holds: 'It's the economy, stupid!'. As long as unemployment [in the US] remains above eight percent, Romney's chances of winning remain unscathed." (01/08/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » Elections, » Europe, » U.S.
All available articles from » Thomas Seifert

Romney's foreign policy harks back to Bush

The stops on US presidential candidate Mitt Romney's trip to the UK, Poland and Israel were carefully selected, the liberal daily the Financial Times explains: "Mr Obama has a famously frosty relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister. As for the Poles, they were upset by America's shift of position on missile defence and reacted fiercely when Mr Obama recently referred to 'Polish death camps' in the second world war. ... Romney's people also argue that the gains from Mr Obama's courting of former foes have been feeble. The Russian reset is in danger, now that an angry Vladimir Putin has returned to the Kremlin. America's popularity ratings in the Muslim world are still dismal. Early Obama ambitions to work closely with China have not worked out. So Mr Romney has the beginnings of a case to make. The trouble is that the implication of his argument is a promise to return to the Manichean world view of George W. Bush - in which nations are divided firmly into friends and enemies of the US and policy is set accordingly." (31/07/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Elections, » Europe, » U.S.
All available articles from » Gideon Rachman

Poland thanks Mitt Romney

During US presidential candidate Mitt Romney's visit to Poland the US media saw the country in a truly favourable light for the first time, Gazeta Wyborcza notes enthusiastically: "Many positive things were written and said about Poland - it was described as one of the key US allies alongside Britain and Israel, as a country that deserves gratitude (something President Obama has sometimes forgotten). Romney could have said a bit more about Poland's dynamic development, about how it has got through the crisis relatively well and how in the last 20 years it has transformed itself into a modern country. ... But we're not complaining. There we were in the focus of the US public and we cut an excellent figure. That's great for Poland - regardless of the results of the US elections in November. Thank you, Mitt!" (01/08/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Poland, » U.S.
All available articles from » Mariusz Zawadzki

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