Don’t we have a gazillion people working at the State Dept and the CIA and doesn’t Obama have a ton of advisors to prevent this kind of debacle? http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/05/jan-karskis-message.php
You’ll never hear me ridiculing the Poles, some of the bravest and most resilient people on earth. Despite the promises of Winston Churchill, Poland got royally screwed during the aftermath of WWll – read I Saw Poland Betrayed by Arthur Lane Bliss, former US ambassador to Poland, who resigned his post in protest over the world’s inaction against Soviet occupation – after their courageous fight against the Nazis and their brave flyers and soldiers who fled Poland to fight for the Allies. The Russians screwed them before, during and after the war, and despite protests, surely committed the Katyn Forest Massacre. http://katyn.org.au/ I’m a bit of a conspiracy theorist over the plane crash that virtually wiped out their government while on the way to commemorate the Massacre.
So our “smart diplomacy” president comes along and insults Poland by referring to the Nazi concentration camps that killed Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland as “Polish death camps” and Jay Carney offers a tepid “he misspoke” regret but the Poles aren’t buying it. Good for them, I hope they stand their ground.
Obama is always saying or doing something stupid to other countries, at least our allies. The list is lengthy and humiliating. My favorite gaffe is when he made a toast to Queen Elizabeth, trying to talk through “God Save the Queen” which is pretty much their national anthem. The look the queen gave him was priceless. Just imagine if the president of Country X came to the WH and tried to give a toast by talking through the “Star Spangled Banner?”
My favorite Michelle foreign gaffe? I’m divided between the too-familiar arm around the shoulder of Queen Elizabeth – one wag commented Michelle looked as though doing a PR photo-op for opening a senior citizen center – and the pic of her walking up the steps in extremely casual summer clothes and shoes while meeting Spanish royalty at their vacation home. Yes, it’s true Michelle was on vaca in Spain but so was the royal family, and they looked fabulous and dignified. Michelle could have arranged a casual private meeting with the family, but instead chose a public meeting open to international media, and she was representing the United States.