The Illusion of Transparency

The fact that Romney hasn’t released more than two years of his tax returns doesn’t bother me.

The fact that he and his people seem annoyed and belligerent and even surprised over the request is what bothers me.

Candidate Obama released seven years of his, as did candidate Hillary Clinton. George W. released nine years; Dukakis six. Yet Romney’s campaign doesn’t quite seem to know how to handle this situation other than stonewalling or trying to deflect. “It is clear that President Obama wants nothing more than to talk about Governor Romney’s tax returns instead of the issues that matter to voters…” declared Romney’s people. Well, first of all, a president should be able to multitask. I’m betting he can talk about both. Second, in a recent poll, 54% believe he should release them, so obviously it matters to voters. But of those voters polled, only 30% who asked for full disclosure were Republican, so maybe he meant only voters that he cares about.

My point…and I do have one…is that the tax returns matter less than what I call the illusion of transparency. Let’s not kid each other: everyone has shit they’d rather not have public. Everyone.

But presidential campaigns are incredibly invasive. I know this. You know this. Anyone with two braincells to rub together knows this. But voters want to believe that you have nothing to hide because what they’re really concerned about is whether you’re going to hide things from the public once elected. (Which every president does anyway. That’s not necessarily a negative. If Obama couldn’t keep a lid on things, bin Laden is still alive. Hell, how far back to you want to go? The majority of Americans didn’t know FDR was in a wheelchair; didn’t make him a less effective president.)

But anyway, candidates put on a show of “I’ve nothing to hide” and reporters say, “Challenge accepted.” And off we go.

And when the things that you’d rather not see out there get out there–as they inevitably do–it’s less about the facts themselves than it is about how you handle it.

And you know what defense rarely works when something negative comes up? “None o’ your beeswax.”

Now if Romney never intended to release more than two years of his returns–well, fine. I personally don’t care. But he should have been ahead of the curve on this, because the person I want for president SHOULD be ahead of the curve. The times when Obama hasn’t been, he’s gotten slapped around for it. And that was when shit happened that was beyond his control. This was IN Romney’s control. He should have seen this coming and his campaign should have had a strategy in mine to deal with it because it’s no secret that this happens every campaign.

If nothing else, they should have noticed that McCain’s campaign released exactly two returns. That ended well for the GOP. Am I saying direct cause and effect? No, of course not. I am saying that it’s worthwhile to look at campaigns that lost and say, “We should do the opposite.” Instead they’re following McCain’s tax return campaign and nominated a vice presidential candidate who has the exact same opinions as, and only slightly more testosterone than, Sarah Palin. And they seem surprised that the media is focusing on Romney’s tax returns, whereas if he’d released, say, five up front, this simply wouldn’t be an issue. Except now people wonder, “Well, what’s he hiding?” And when you’re trying to present an illusion of transparency, that’s really what you don’t need people asking before you’ve even been made the official nominee.

Yet he didn’t see any of that coming.

THAT is what disturbs me.

PAD