Mitt Romney’s Foreign Policy Disaster, Palestinian Edition
The Gafferiffic Campaign
WASHINGTON – WHAT A DANGEROUS road Mitt Romney is going down, as he continues making a fool of himself on foreign policy. What he doesn’t know about the Middle East reminds me of when Pres. George W. Bush thought it was a good idea to push the Palestinians into elections that delivered Hamas to power, while Dr. Condoleezza Rice stood around saying who knew?
Even Liz Cheney had to admit that fact.
“I do,” Cheney replied. “I don’t think they were ready for it. I don’t think we should have pushed it.” – Liz Cheney, on “This Week” with Jake Tapper
Before leaving Israel, Mitt Romney let loose with a statement that defies diplomatic reasoning.
“As you come here and you see the GDP per capita, for instance, in Israel which is about $21,000 dollars, and compare that with the GDP per capita just across the areas managed by the Palestinian Authority, which is more like $10,000 per capita, you notice such a dramatically stark difference in economic vitality.” – Romney Comments at Fundraiser Outrage Palestinians [AP]
The Palestinian leadership blew a gasket:
“And as I come here and I look out over this city and consider the accomplishments of the people of this nation, I recognize the power of at least culture and a few other things,” Romney said, citing an innovative business climate, the Jewish history of thriving in difficult circumstances and the “hand of providence.” He said similar disparity exists between neighboring countries, like Mexico and the United States.
Palestinian reaction was swift and pointed.
“It is a racist statement and this man doesn’t realize that the Palestinian economy cannot reach its potential because there is an Israeli occupation,” said Saeb Erekat, a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
“It seems to me this man lacks information, knowledge, vision and understanding of this region and its people,” Erekat added. “He also lacks knowledge about the Israelis themselves. I have not heard any Israeli official speak about cultural superiority.”
Mr. Romney should be made to watch the film “Miral,” which I reviewed after a special screening. Actually being exposed to a Palestinian would help.
Only Anthony Cordesman could get away with this, whose words from 2010 seem like another century today:
It is time Israel realized that it has obligations to the United States, as well as the United States to Israel, and that it become far more careful about the extent to which it test the limits of U.S. patience and exploits the support of American Jews. This does not mean taking a single action that undercuts Israeli security, but it does mean realizing that Israel should show enough discretion to reflect the fact that it is a tertiary U.S. strategic interest in a complex and demanding world. – Israel as a Strategic Liability?, by Anthony Cordesman
Also back in 2010, Steve Clemons wrote something that applies when looking at what candidate Romney is trying to do to Pres. Obama, while Clemons mirrors what Mr. Cordesman said.
…Obama’s equation for moving Middle East peace forward was just too quaint and simple. Even though Israel is completely dependent on American security guarantees and aid and is genuinely a client state of the United States, the pugnacious prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, flamboyantly rebuffed Obama’s call to stop settlements. Obama, with some twisting and modification of his position, has essentially forfeited the match to Netanyahu.
During the early part of the John F. Kennedy administration, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev beat Kennedy in similar challenges and began to doubt Kennedy’s resolve and strategic temperament – leading to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Today, Netanyahu has become the Khrushchev of the Obama administration – and one wonders if a crisis lies ahead in which Obama will have to reassert his primacy lest the world think that Israel runs the United States and the Obama presidency. [...]
Fast forward to election 2012 and we have Mitt Romney threatening Pres. Obama with his presidency by using Israel as the weapon, with Prime Minister Netanyahu playing right along. Whether the Israeli Prime Minister likes Romney or not, is best friends or not, the message has been sent that he would be his tool.
This is some scary stuff we’re seeing unfold from Mitt Romney’s foreign policy shop. Just when you think the neoconservatives have been vanquished they’re allowed to crawl back in, through the short-sided ambition of a man named Mitt Romney who only knows what he reads about the Middle East from religious texts.
From ABC News, Romney’s Overseas Trip Continues With Another Fumble:
“One of the challenges of being an actor on the international stage, particularly when you’re traveling to such a sensitive part of the world, is that your comments are very closely scrutinized for meaning, for nuance, for motivation,” Obama Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest said today in the White House briefing.
“And it is clear that there are some people who have taken a look at those comments and are scratching their heads a little bit.”
Scratching our heads is an understatement.
Taylor Marsh, a veteran political analyst and former Huffington Post contributor, is the author of The Hillary Effect, available at Barnes and Noble and on Amazon. Her new-media blog www.taylormarsh.com covers national politics, women and power.
TM Note: The above Tumblr take off occurred after the Romney campaign misspelled America in one of their online ads.
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I can only ascribe Romney’s actions in the middle east as a desperate attempt to get as many American Jewish voters on board as possible.
When it comes to pandering, he is not in Obama’s league.
Hmm, interesting comments dduck. I wonder how you chant “Yes we can” in Yiddish?
Some examples of Obama’s pampering in the Middle East?
Yea, Obama is a far more nuanced panderer. It takes me awhile to realize when he’s done it. When Romney panders, I feel like I just got schmoozed by Eddie Haskel.
That’s Ohio Columbus, and pandering, not pampering.
Obama, good, good, at it. Mitt, terrible, terrible.
dduck says:
JULY 31, 2012 AT 10:09 AM
Pres. Obama made a valiant effort at the start of his first term by refusing to take PM Netanyahu’s settlement policy without offering criticism. Then he blinked.
Also remember V.P. Joe Biden being humiliated while in Israel, with Mr. Netanyahu announcing more settlements, for which an Israeli cabinet minister apologized.
Obama also sent National Security Adviser James Jones to the big 2009 J-Street event, which I covered. No small offering, given the way the right feels about J-Street.
That said, candidate Obama does exactly what Mitt Romney is doing, as does any other politician who wants to be president.
If Steve Clemons says it’s pandering, it’s pandering, which in that case (at the link) is absolutely true. For the reason, see the sentence above.
What Pres. Obama is not is “soft on Israel,” which is what Republicans try desperately to paint. He couldn’t get elected if that was the case.
slamfu says:
JULY 31, 2012 AT 11:34 AM
Priceless.
DaGoat says:
JULY 31, 2012 AT 10:22 AM
heh-heh… You all are on a roll today!
@slamfu
When Romney panders, I feel like I just got schmoozed by Eddie Haskel.
Great analogy. Romney comes across like a game show host selling used cars.
Ok, let’s get serious. What was in that slip of paper, Mitt stuck into the Wailing Wall. My guess, a picture of Brigham young?
Oh. No. That’s too much…. .. … heh-heh.
DG, I think Romney could be in a “How Not To Sell Used Cadillacs” training film.
Yes american voters are going to elect a president because some lower level Palistinian politian is pissed off. Or not.
Again, the Obama folks must be loving this…
How big is the Palestinian voter block in the US? Was there ever a hope in heck that they would go Romney? Now how about pro Israel? That doesn’t even mention the fund raising. People keep saying this was some big gaff, but honestly I don’t see how.
EE, you may be partially correct, but Mitt is not the smoothest guy at pandering, so contrasting him to Obama, the reaction is often an overreaction. Mitt should do better after all these years of campaigning.
Yes, there are far fewer Palestinian sympathizers/voters, and when in Jerusalem, It was not unusual to ignore their plight. Still, he stuck his foot in his mouth.
“How big is the Palestinian voter block in the US?”
Those who think that Palestinians deserve some respect as human beings, and who understand that the Israel/Palestine question might be a little more complicated than a simple agree-with-Israel-on-everything-no-matter-what stance can convey, is quite a bit bigger than the ethnically Palestine population in the US. Furthermore, there is a sizable population of voters who could care less about Palestine, per se, but still understand that the complexities of Middle East politics might dictate that a little more care be taken than Mitt has shown.
..He didn’t say anything overtly racist which would of got him in trouble. He said tradition and society matter and is why Israel is doing so much better. While some may disagree I think the majority of Americans most likely agree.
EE, he used the C word, culture, which can be ambiguous when someone’s heel is on your throat.
I didn’t mention racism, EEllis. Missing the fact that Palestine isn’t doing well economically because they are essentially occupied and barred to a tiny strip of land, with their own tradition and society significantly impacted, and not because their culture is lazy or their traditions and society are somehow inherently less valid, is pretty crass. It’s the same thing he misses here about why people aren’t doing well (poor people just don’t have the right traditions and personal habits). In addition, blanketly promising that the US will recognize Jerusalem as the capitol, and will move our embassy there, without giving a thought to how that looks to the broader region, is also pretty blatant disregard for current policy there, which does actually have complex reasons to exist.
“you basically condemn him for being honest”
You got me, EEllis. It surely couldn’t be because his policy ignores the complexity of the situation, like I just spent a paragraph explaining. It’s because I hate honesty. Good sleuthing work.
Discuss debate the topic, keep the sarcasm toward others out of it. The debate, teaching, discussion here will remain civil.
Thanks
Archangel/ dr.e
Really? Did I miss something? I don’t remember anything that I posted that was an insult or even sarcastic so why was it removed leaving a post that directly goes against that standard up? Honestly I was saying that if Romney had been overtly racist it would of hurt even if the average Romney voter couldn’t care less about a particular group. That and the arguments seem to come at this as condemning Romney for what he said but strangely not because he does hold that belief. Hey I can respect someone as a person and still think their govt sucks, the culture is medieval, or just regressive.