Romney & the Embassy Attacks

There has been a great deal reported this week regarding the brutal attacks on American embassies and consulates.  Some of it has been the usual blather -- including political blather -- but much of the media coverage has actually been quite good.  By and large, I think that the president and the foreign service have acquitted themselves quite well to date.  The general consensus, however, is the Mitt Romney has not.  Again, a lot has been said, but I think that this piece in New York Magazine by Jonathan Chait sums up Romney's actions nicely.

Romney's actions, beyond being destructive to the actual, unfolding situation, are a political mystery.  Even if everything he said had been correct, what is the upside for him?  Sure, he might have looked slightly more presidential in an area where he is rightly seen as a novice.  Be this as it may, conversation by him right or wrong shifts the focus of the presidential campaign off of the economy and squarely onto foreign affairs, a topic on which everyone agrees the president is nearly universally regarded by Americans as being tough and in-charge.  So again I ask, what were they thinking?

Romney will not be a good president if elected.  However, over the course of his career, he's proven to be a pretty good campaigner.  That has not being demonstrated lately, however.  His campaign is all over the map, splintering the media coverage on topic after topic and taking it off of the economy again and again.  He's looking weak and desperate, a narrative that once seized upon by the media at large is hard to void.

Romney has had another bad week, something I do not lament.  And while the Democrats seem to be bringing their A-game and -- amazingly -- are staying on message like never before, much of the damage done to the candidate has been selfinflicted and on-going.

Of course, the political arena in America is the least of this story.  Four Americans serving their country were killed during an attack on their country.  There is little doubt that their deaths were savage and I can only guess at their terror.  And we have many more Americans in harms way.  If we were smart -- and if we were moral -- we would unite with a common purpose.  That is beyond us, however.  I'm left wondering if we'll ever be able to act with unified purpose again.

14 September 2012