Obama's Polish Gaffes

Following up on last week's post Olympic Gaffe Games: Comparing Romney and Obama 
which listed Obama's foreign policy gaffes with Great Britain, there's a damning article out today on his gaffes and outright disrespect of Poland, a country that threw off communism and is very pro-America.

The Washington Free Beacon has the story, here are the most striking quotes:

Last week’s surprise announcement of U.S. Ambassador to Poland Lee Feinstein’s retirement highlighted a string of policy missteps by the Obama administration that have left many in the Polish government and population questioning Obama’s commitment to the two nations’ alliance. ...

“To put it plainly, on Obama’s list of priorities, Poland is obviously lower than whale shit,” said one Polish defense industry official. “We are further down that list than that stuff laying at the bottom of the ocean.” ...

Polish prime minister Donald Tusk said in a nationally televised address that “yesterday’s words by President Obama offended all Poles—we always react in the same way when ignorance, lack of knowledge, bad intentions lead to such a distortion of history, so painful for us here in Poland, in a country which suffered like no other in Europe during World War II.”

Other Poles were less restrained. Foreign Minister Sikorski tweeted, “It’s a shame that such a momentous ceremony has been overshadowed by ignorance and incompetence.” ...

“When Obama first came into office, the opinion polls about Polish impressions of the U.S. were 70-plus percent favorable,” said the Polish defense industry official. “But with all that has happened this figure is now somewhere in the mid-30s range.” ...

Dropping from 70% to 30% favorability is astounding!  Remember this the next time someone tries to claim Obama has raised America's standing in the world.  Actually, tell Obama himself - last week he said:

"Because we're leading around the world, people have a new attitude toward America. There’s more confidence in our leadership. We see it everywhere we go," President Obama said at the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Reno.

The Poles certainly have a new attitude toward America, and it is not good.  Meanwhile, Mitt Romney visited Poland to pledge “U.S. support of Poland as a captive nation during the Cold War.”  The choice in November couldn't be more clear.

Freedom fighter and former Polish President Lech Walesa has endorsed Romney:

"I wish you to be successful because this success is needed to the United States, of course, but to Europe and the rest of the world, too. Gov Romney, get your success -- be successful!"

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