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What do Czechs think of Mitt Romney?

08.02.2012 | Stephen Christensen

About two weeks ago, Foreign Policy ran an article entitled, “What the World Makes of Mitt,” a decently creative story that offered a brief glimpse into what the international media outlets are saying about Republican Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. At the time, I didn’t think much of it, as Newt Gingrich was gaining momentum within the Republican Party at Romney’s expense. However, after Romney secured the Republican Presidential Nevada Caucus, the Republican nomination is dangerously close to being his – good reason for the rest of the world to pay closer attention to his foreign policy.  

None of the Czech media outlets were mentioned in the Foreign Policy article, although many of them, including Hospodarske noviny, have been following the 2012 Presidential election in an impressively observant fashion (see Daniel Anyz). 

Whether formally through discussions at the US Embassy, local universities or informally over a beer at Mlejn, the political and academic community here in Prague is paying such close attention to the US Presidential campaign season that I felt compelled to share the Czech opinion since Foreign Policy elected not to. In the interest of full disclosure, my sample size was limited to only one academic and one bureaucrat, although I consider both of them to be quite knowledgeable of US politics and GOP candidates. 

From the academic: “Romney would probably be a competent president, given his considerable managerial experience. During the primaries, however, he has had to resort to massive hypocrisy and discard his original moderate Rockefeller Republicanism in order to be acceptable for Tea Partiers and the Religious Right. This makes his true positions obscure and his policies once in office unpredictable. Either he will return to his moderate Republicanism after the election, or he will keep howling with the crowd. On foreign policy, he seems to be as deluded about the nature of contemporary American power as other Republican candidates, bar Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman. He speaks as if it was 1995 and the US still lived in a unipolar world.”

This is a pretty insightful observation that demonstrates a depth of understanding many Americans do not have of GOP presidential candidates.   I particularly like this comment because you can feel that even foreign observers are frustrated with the political bickering and empty campaign rhetoric infecting US presidential campaigns.

From the Bureaucrat: “We Europeans sometimes behave like we are part of the US presidential campaign. No matter who wins, he or she will be the president of the United States, not President of NATO or USA / Europe. Mitt Romney is no exception in this regard. His views - whether we like them or not - will be driven by domestic political issues and priorities, and not by wishful thinking of some European leaders.”

I like this comment because there is a hint of Europe’s frustration over its role in US foreign policy, which has grown stronger since the announcement of the “pivot” toward the Asia Pacific.

So Mitt, the world (Europe in particular) is watching. Lighten up on bashing Europe and calling Obama a European socialist - NATO and European allies will remain instrumental to upholding mutual interests in Europe and the Middle East as the US shifts its focus toward the Asia Pacific. And while your White Book on foreign policy  failed to mention Europe or NATO once, you should reach out to your transatlantic allies – the NATO summit is just around the corner. 

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