It’s easy to understand why Mitt Romney must be feeling frustrated right now. The four-day Republican National Convention was first hijacked by a hurricane, and then by an old man talking to a chair.  Meanwhile, the majority of the media met the Democratic National Convention with plaudits, and Obama has seen a slight bounce in the polls. The media continues to characterize Romney as a man without any ideas, and at the same time, extreme ideas—a radical Republican, yet also a flip-flopper.

Frustration aside, the Romney campaign’s response to the recent tragedy at the American Embassy in Libya—on September 11th of all days—was out of line, and unbefitting of a candidate for the Presidency. In response to the horrific attack that claimed the lives of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other embassy workers, Romney released a statement saying:

“It’s disgraceful that the Obama administration’s first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks.” This response referred to a tweet from the Egyptian Embassy stating: “We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others.”

Romney’s response was wrong on many levels. First, he launched his broadside against Obama on September 11th, a day on which campaigning was tacitly paused, instead of waiting until the following day.

Secondly, Romney was referring to a tweet that was not endorsed by the Obama administration, but was tweeted under duress by the American Embassy in Egypt, and later disavowed by the White House. Earlier in the day, a mob stormed the U.S. Embassy in response to an awful movie titled Innocence of Muslims, only to be followed soon after by a similar mob in Libya. It is perfectly understandable that those in danger inside the embassy would seek to defuse tensions by stating they were categorically opposed to the aforementioned movie. Did Romney not think that the public would be able to assess the situation in which this tweet was sent?

[pullquote]Romney’s rush to judgment was an attempt to score political points, instead of waiting to hear about the facts—an undesirable attribute in a President.[/pullquote]

Romney’s rush to judgment was an attempt to score political points, instead of waiting to hear about the facts—an undesirable attribute in a President. Indeed, there have been unconfirmed reports that the Obama administration may have bungled intelligence tips before the attack, and that proper due diligence may have averted the events that followed. It would have been far more prudent for Romney to actually see if there were legitimate grounds on which to criticize Obama. Alternatively, Romney could have criticized the Obama administration’s simplistic thinking about the situation in Libya, best exemplified by Hillary Clinton’s statement that, “we came, we saw, he [Gadhafi] died.”

Finally, as pointed out by The Atlantic, Romney handled himself in a far less dignified manner than previous Republican presidential contenders. When running for president, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush both rightly stated that the nation had to stand in support of the Carter Administration’s botched hostage rescue in Iran. After the attack in Libya, Romney should have realized the solemnity of the moment, and called on the American people to respect the memory of those who died in the attack. The political games should have been delayed to a later time. The fact that Romney was unable to perform this simple political calculus really raises questions about his future temperedness in office. This is another boon for the re-election campaign of Barack Obama.