Romney fuzzy on presidential ‘first trip’ etiquette
Romney gets his pander on at AIPAC: As President, peace will be my solemn goal. A peace based not on empty assurances, but on true security and defensible borders. This will require American strength, and a demonstration of our resolve. That’s why, as President, my first foreign trip will not be to Cairo or Riyadh ...
Romney gets his pander on at AIPAC:
Romney gets his pander on at AIPAC:
As President, peace will be my solemn goal. A peace based not on empty assurances, but on true security and defensible borders. This will require American strength, and a demonstration of our resolve. That’s why, as President, my first foreign trip will not be to Cairo or Riyadh or Ankara. It will be to Jerusalem.
If this is a dig at Obama, I’m not sure exactly what Romney is referring to. The president’s first trip abroad wasn’t to Cairo, Riyadh, or Ankara, it was to Canada. On his first major international trip in April 2009, he visited Britain, France, Germany, and the Czech Republic before hitting Turkey.
This is pretty standard practice. Since Franklin Roosevelt, nearly every president has gone to either Canada or Mexico first. (Carter went to Britain first; Truman and Nixon went to Belgium.)
As far as I can tell, Israel has never been particularly bothered by this practice. But between this and "that oil from Canada that we deserve," Romney is running a serious risk of incurring the wrath of our neighbor to the north.
Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating
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