A Little More Class, Please

            It may not qualify as a major gaffe, but it certainly showed a lack of class. We are now reminded of it nearly four years later by none other than Mitt Romney.

            On his recent visit to London, Romney told the Brits that he would be happy to have the bust of Winston Churchill returned to the White House. He was referring to one of the first actions Barack Obama took after his inauguration as President of the United States: he ordered the bust of Churchill, a gift from Great Britain which had been in the Oval Office since Nixon, to be returned to the British. The reason, it was rumored, was that it was in retaliation for the treatment of Kenya by the British during the colonial era. True or not, the action was a gross insult to our greatest ally. And it showed an utter lack of class by the president.
            Reminded now of the gaffe, the White House scurried to deny it, saying that the bust was still in the White House, that it had never been returned. This proved to be false. The bust had indeed been returned and is now in the British embassy in Washington.
            It has been clear from the beginning of his term that Obama does not stand with the country's closest allies. I recall another slap at the British when the White House telegraphed his preference for Argentina's position on the Falkland Islands by calling them the Maldives, Argentina's appellation. To top it off, Obama himself displayed his ignorance by referring to the islands as the Malvinas. Not as bad as calling the Marine Corps the Marine corpse, but just as embarrassing.
            Romney's next stop was Israel, an ally that Obama has never deigned to visit. Indeed, he bypassed Israel on his first trip abroad to bow down before a Saudi prince. He has preferred to insult Prime Minister Netanyahu in the White House, all the while siding with the Palestinians by insisting on a return to the pre-1967 borders.
            Speaking of the White House, which we Americans rightly feel is Our House, this president has been photographed again and again with his feet up on the furniture, including the Oval Office desk used by President Kennedy and President Reagan, among others.
            He has also been photographed covering his crotch during the singing of the National Anthem, while others around him saluted the flag.
            Do we not have the right to expect a little more class from the leader of our great country?