Romney campaign plans foreign policy tour ... maybe

Don't forget Poland
(Matthew Reichbach)
  Well, this ought to be entertaining. The Romney campaign is contemplating a whirlwind foreign tour in the next month or so, because for some reason visiting a bunch of countries might count as "boosting" Mitt's foreign policy credentials.

The tentative plan being discussed internally would have Romney begin his roll-out with a news-making address at the VFW convention later this month in Reno, Nev. The presumptive GOP nominee then is slated to travel to London for the start of the Olympics and to give a speech in Great Britain on U.S. foreign policy.

Romney next would fly to Israel for a series of meetings and appearances with key Israeli and Palestinian officials. Then, under the plan being considered, he would return to Europe for a stop in Germany and a public address in Poland, a steadfast American ally during the Bush years and a country that shares Romney's wariness toward Russia. Romney officials had considered a stop in Afghanistan on the journey, but that's now unlikely.

How will this work to convince people Mitt Romney gives a flying damn about foreign policy? Listen to the wisdom of conservative hawk Bill Kristol, and be impressed.

Romney has not articulated his Afghanistan policy beyond saying he'd listen to the generals on the ground. Were he to visit the war zone, his team fears, he'd pressed to say more about his plans for the country.

But Kristol argued, 'You don't have to have a completely worked-out policy on ' Afghanistan to go and look serious.'

It's like when Bush visited the troops and presented them with a plastic Thanksgiving turkey. Doesn't matter what the hell you're doing there, just look serious, dammit. Maybe then you'll get some foreign policy ideas through osmosis or something.

I'm looking forward to this one. Is that wrong of me? I feel like whenever Mitt Romney plans a trip to anywhere to do anything, most of the political sphere gets a giddy little thrill, imagining all the gaffes to come. Watching the notoriously policy-shy Mitt Romney try to come up with vaguely relevant things to say in Germany, Poland or Israel seems a car crash in the making.