Mitt Romney has been skewered by the mainstream media for a statement
about Israel
and the Palestinian Authority that is accepted as true by top economic
historians and anyone with a little common sense. Perhaps Romney should have
known better than to make an intellectual point before reporters, whose attention
span and education are in short supply, to say the least.
Romney began his to-be-skewered remarks in Jerusalem with a statement of fact:
“And as you come here and you see the GDP per capita, for
instance, in Israel,
which is about $21,000, and you compare that with the GDP per capita just
across the areas managed by the Palestinian Authority, which is more like
$10,000 per capita, you notice a dramatic, stark difference in economic
vitality.” (He overstated the Palestinian figure, pointed out one jubilant
critic, but the point remains the same).
Romney’s “gaffe” was to use Harvard economic historian,
David Landes’s The
Wealth and Poverty of Nations to explain the differences in “economic
vitality” between Israel
and its Arab neighbors he saw with his own eyes:
“If you could learn anything from the economic history of
the world it’s this: culture makes all the difference. Culture makes all the
difference.”
The Press buzzed with excitement: Did Romney actually say
that Israel
is successful and the Palestinian Authority is not because of cultural
differences? What an insult! Such a racist
and bigot is not fit to be President! What an opportunity to build on the
narrative that Romney is gaffe prone!
go to forbes.com
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