Romney Starts His Foreign Trip with a Series of Gaffes

For someone as cautious as Mitt Romney, it is surprising that within a day of arriving in Britain, he made a number of gaffes that have been widely reported in both the British and American press. When Romney commented that the security around the Olympics was not quite up to snuff, British Prime Minister David Cameron shot back: "We are holding an Olympic Games in one of the busiest, most active, bustling cities anywhere in the world. Of course it's easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere" (a pointed reference to Romney's management of the Winter Olympics in Utah in 2002). But even Romney's attempt at praise fell flat when he acknowledged America's shared Anglo-Saxon heritage with the U.K., forgetting that the majority of Americans trace their roots to Central Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia rather than Britain. Politicians make gaffes all the time, but given that the only purpose of this trip is to make Romney look presidential, insulting his hosts is not a great start.