Before he leaves, he nearly creates an international incident with Australia by taking the Australian foreign minister's words out of context, creating a completely different meaning, as Romney is wont to do. And he had not even left yet.
More below the squiggle:
He was taking a trip to visit some of our closest allies, including England. He said that he wants to restore our standing in the world. He wants to show off his diplomatic chops. Then, he questions whether London will embrace the Olympics and whether they will pull it off successfully.
He forgot the name of the opposition leader when he is meeting that opposition leader.
He talked about meeting with the head of MI6 and names him even though this this is not supposed to be done.
He called the country by the wrong name.
Then, when the officials and people of the country didn't respond well to all of this, he decided to attack and derisively insult the London Mayor.
Finally, we got the excuse that he was not briefed sufficiently for a trip of this magnitude.
This is just stunning. This was a trip visiting some of our closest allies in the world. We share culture and language. If you aren't prepared for the trip, don't go. And how much preparation should be necessary for this trip ?
This trip made it clear as a bell that Willard is simply not up to the job. And the main problem is not inadequate briefing. The problem is one of character and habit. Social skills are developed through time, life experiences, and putting yourself in the other person's shoes. Willard has never had to relate to others as equals. So, he has no experience at doing this. He has never put himself in another person's shoes. He has no social skills at all. Previously, in his business life, his ability to relate to ordinary people and to foreign officials was not exceptionally important. In any event, he himself did not need to engage in the activity. This is not something one can suddenly develop or turn on. This is something one develops over decades through intentionally putting yourself in the place of others. Willard is accustomed to placing himself as the center otypf the universe.
Therefore, Willard is going to have the same problems wherever he goes. The Romney team, must, therefore, limit his public interaction and exposure to foreign officials. For, if they do not, this type of situation will reoccur.
On the merits, this trip alone, in a practical sense, disqualifies him from the job of being President. In other words, let us set aside his terrible policies, as well as we can make them out. Even if he had good policies (which he does not), he could not manage our relationships with other countries well. He could not begin to be effective in building alliances and strengthening our friendships with our allies. He might or might not be effective in dealing with our enemies. However, we know that he cannot deal well with out friends and likely would turn those countries neutral towards us against us. The skill of strengthening friendships, building alliances, and working together with out allies to accomplish common goals is an essential function for the President.
Willard is unable to perform that task adequately.
So, he is simply not up to the task of managing foreign affairs.
Thus, he is not up to the position of serving as US President.
To me, this is just a stunning defeat for Willard. It magnifies his deficiencies as a (an alleged) human. In the category of interpersonal intelligence (under Multiple Intelligences), Willard currently has either zero or a negative number. He does not have this intelligence inherently. He has never developed it. He has never needed to. His life has never encouraged him to develop it, never informed him of his inadequacy in this area, and has encouraged him to ingrain within himself and his personality traits that that are harmful towards developing interpersonal intelligences.
While this may not get as much scrutiny as one might wish, I believe that this trip, in and of itself, shows that Willard is not up to the task of serving as US President in 2012.