Our presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s recently concluded rocky international road tour simply proves that whatever doesn’t play in Des Moines won’t work in London or Jerusalem either.

Worse yet, our former governor, Mitt Romney, couldn’t even conceal his blunders behind the hoopla of the Summer Olympics. On the contrary, he used that event as a backdrop for some of his unfortunate remarks.

A “softball” tour of Great Britain, Israel and Poland — three of this nation’s staunchest allies — proved to be a public-relations — and foreign-relations — nightmare. Mitt’s penchant for uttering the wrong phrase at exactly the most inopportune time has ruffled feathers from London to Beijing — much to the delight of Team Obama.

Politics often requires a head of state — even an aspiring one — to be politic, something Mitt and his advisers seem unaware of.

It all began when Romney opened his trip by insulting the British on what was intended to be a feel-good visit to the London Olympics.

Mitt managed to put Prime Minister David Cameron in a snit by wondering whether officials there were fully prepared to host the Olympic Games. Instead of praising the Brits for their efforts while patting himself on the back for his oversight of the Salt Lake City Games, he lectured the host nation on its shortcomings.

Having apparently learned nothing from that experience, Mitt then traveled to Israel, where he managed to outrage Palestinians during a reception with a bevy of wealthy Jewish donors by praising their culture as the reason Israel has achieved so much, as opposed to its neighbors.

Obviously, there is a politic way to praise the Israelis for their economic success and not demean the Palestinians at the same time.

That unintended slight earned Mitt the scorn of Palestinian leaders and beyond, and provided the president with a bounce in his step.

Even Romney’s stop in Poland — which reveres Ronald Reagan for his help in ridding the country of communism — wasn’t without controversy.

There he met with the Cold Warera Solidarity leader Lech Walesa, earning his endorsement. However, the country’s current union leadership distanced itself from Walesa’s words, noting Romney’s apparent antagonism toward labor.

Aside from inflicting a severe case of growing pains, it’s doubtful Romney’s ill-timed words will cause any permanent harm. After all, this is a domestic-driven election, in which job creation trumps any international insensitivity.

— The Sentinel and Enterprise of Fitchburg (Mass.)