Has Mitt Romney Revived The “Ugly American”

 

The Meriam-Webster dictionary defines the term Ugly American as: an American in a foreign country whose behavior is offensive to the people of that country. Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney traveled to London and on the day before the opening ceremonies of the Olympics he managed to offend the entire United Kingdom.

Romney managed to win a gold medal for multiple foot-in-mouth insertions by first answering a question posed to him by Brian Williams of NBC News regarding how he felt about the prospects of success for the Olympic Games in London. Romney rattled off a list of concerns about various items from security to whether the people would come together and rally around the games. Romney’s response set off a firestorm and he was rebuked by British Prime Minister David Cameron, the Mayor of London and the British Press. London Mayor Boris Johnson said before a crowd of 60,000 in Hyde Park. "There is a guy called Mitt Romney who wants to know if we are ready. Yes, we are!” That was just the beginning.

Romney later met with Labour Party leader Ed Miliband, but forgot his name when speaking to the press and referred to Miliband as Mr. Leader. Romney also referenced that he had met with the head of MI6, the U.K. Secret Intelligence Service, which is so secretive that it was not verified that it existed until 1994 by the British government. Mitt Romney managed to turn what should have been a series of positive foreign credential photo opportunities into a political nightmare that dominated headlines around the world. Some compared Romney to President George W Bush and one even said he was worse than Sarah Palin.

Mitt Romney has his money spread around the world, but he does not seem to travel so well.