Romney's Consequential London Gaffes

In my post yesterday regarding Mitt Romney’s interview with Brian Williams on NBC, I decided to concentrate on three specific areas of the conversation - gun control, tax returns and the economy. I learned today that by focusing on those topics only, I missed what has become today’s kerfuffle, his comments on London’s preparations for the Olympic games. And those comments, importantly, say a lot about the man.

Here’s the transcript:

BRIAN WILLIAMS:

And in the short time you've been here in London, do they look ready to your experienced eye?

MITT ROMNEY:

You know, it's hard to know just how well it were turn out-- will turn out. There are a few things that were disconcerting, the stories about the-- private security firm not having enough people-- the sup-- supposed strike of the immigration and customs officials, that obviously is not something which is encouraging. Because in the games, there-- there are three parts that makes games successful.

The response in London was swift and direct.

British Prime Minister David Cameron: "We are holding an Olympic Games in one of the busiest, most active, bustling cities in the world. Of course it's easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere."

London Mayor Boris Johnson: "I hear there's a guy called Mitt Romney who wants to know whether we're ready. He wants to know whether we're ready. Are we ready? Are we ready? Yes, we are."

The Sun, Britain’s best-selling newspaper (and owned by Rupert Murdoch) headlined “Mitt the Twit” going on to call him a “wannabe president”.

The Daily Mail slammed him as devoid of charm, offensive and a wazzock. (A wazzock is British slang and is defined as “an idiot; an annoyingly stupid person”)

A Sky News reporter asked: "Is this guy really prepared to be president?"

Even nine-time Olympic gold medal winner Carl Lewis, not a Brit, chimed in: “I swear, sometimes I think some Americans shouldn’t leave the country. Are you kidding me, stay home if you don’t know what to say.”

This bears repeating – a man who has an even chance to be the next president and the leader of the free world being told – STAY HOME IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT TO SAY!

And this, as Romney’s first trip abroad as a presidential candidate, was intended to show off his strength as a statesman.

Quite a show.

Now Romney, being Mitt, walked back his London readiness comments less than a day later: “After being here a couple of days, it looks to me like London is ready. And, of course, it is hard to put on games in a major metropolitan area.”

So, he was for London’s efforts before he was against it. Or is it the other way around?

In any event, besides the Olympics gaffe Romney apparently didn’t remember the name of the opposition leader, Ed Miliband, and talked openly about his meeting with the head of MI6, Britain’s ultra-secret foreign intelligence unit, a major breech of protocol in London

Tom McCarthy of The Guardian: “For our American readership, this isn’t like bragging you just met David Petraeus. The British take on the national secret intelligence service comes with an extra-heavy dollop of the whole secret thing,”

What’s wrong with this guy? This trip was supposed to be easy. Even conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer of Fox News called Romney's performance in London "unbelievable," and "beyond human understanding".

"All Romney has to do is say nothing," Krauthammer said. "It's like a guy in a 100-meter dash. All he has to do is to finish; he doesn't have to win. And instead, he tackles the guy in the lane next to him and ends up disqualified. I don't get it."

The conventional wisdom is that this is “small ball” stuff; that it will all blow over in a few days; that this election will be all about the economy. The election might well be decided on the economy. But there’s more to being the president than shepherding the economy. As conservative commentator William Kristol wrote in The Weekly Standard, “Yes, the American people are focused on the economy – and understandably so. But Romney isn’t running for treasury secretary – he is running for Commander in Chief. And those responsibilities begin on Day 1 of his presidency."

Romney is running as the experienced business man who can turn our economy around. Given that he’s presented no concrete plans to show how he’ll do that, and there’s no evidence that success in business translates to success in public office (let alone the presidency), what are we left with? We’re left with his public persona of flip-flops, gaffes and fact twisting for political gain. And not only doesn't that inspire confidence, it doesn't even demonstrate competence. Don’t we deserve more?