Pointing out America's inadequacies is a common tactic in U.S. presidential campaigns, but sometimes the jabs backfire. That happened this week to Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders when he took on Internet speeds in the U.S.
Today, people living in Bucharest, Romania have access to much faster Internet than most of the US. That’s unacceptable and must change.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) March 2, 2016
His observation Wednesday drew a flurry of annoyed responses on both sides of the Atlantic. Many Romanians rejected what they viewed as an implication their country — one of the poorest in the European Union — did not deserve having better internet than the United States.
@BernieSanders Romania is sorry for not being the third world country you and your voters thinks it is. We'll be more careful next time!
— Dorin Lazăr (@dorinlazar) March 3, 2016
And Claudia Ciobanu, a Romanian freelance journalist based in Poland, tweeted:
Bernie’s tweet discriminates against Romanians. That’s unacceptable & must change. Signed: your (stunned) fans in RO https://t.co/RrRYCqph2g
— Claudia Ciobanu (@Claudia_Warsaw) March 3, 2016
Some Americans also poked fun at Sanders.
@BernieSanders give it a bucha-rest
— JC (@t3hjc) March 2, 2016
The truth is Romania does overall have better Internet speeds than the U.S. According to the latest "State of the Internet" report by the content delivery network Akamai, Romania came in eighth in its global ranking for average peak speeds in the third quarter of 2015. The U.S., by comparison, was in 21st place.
All I can say is that I am envious here in Berlin. Germany, which like Romania is in the EU and is the bloc's economic giant, ranked even worse. It came in 32nd place for peak speeds.
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