Romney Runs, But Can He Hide?
Even before his choice of VP, GOP strategists have their Great White Hope in modified crouch, a version of the 2008 Sarah Palin strategy: keeping him under cover while furors over Bain Capital and his tax returns have Mitt Romney reeling on the defensive.
He surfaces this week only twice, in Ohio and New Hampshire, then goes into hiding before a trip to Israel, England and Poland, where he can blame Obama for worldwide economic woes while ducking questions about his own.
All this recalls what Joe Louis, the fabled Brown Bomber of the 1930s, said about one of his nimble foes while defending his title against bum-of-the-month contenders, “He can run, but he can’t hide.”
As Romney’s campaign falters and tries to run out the long clock, it becomes clear that withholding his tax returns beyond the most recent two years will cut into their man’s credibility both ways.
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Much as I hate to say it, no one should underestimate the power of the Republican spin factory, or what an incredible amount of money can do in the face of an obvious but unwanted PR problem for Romney. The GOP has virtually perfected the art of persuasive, underhanded, dirty, and negative campaigning. So,Mitt will probably, even if not totally erasing all doubts, succeed in lessening the impact of his reluctance to reveal tax records on the minds of voters. There are still months to go and the 24 hour news cycle has a funny way of burying the impact of any temporary scandal.
Interestingly, FactCheck.org has decided that there is little truth behind the Obama camp’s claim that Mitt remained in a active executive role even after 1999. This does not absolve him from fulfilling his obligation to provide the American people with pertinent information about his own personal wealth, and how it is maintained and invested, but, it does give him some wiggle room to dispute any claims from Democrats about financial impropriety. He has already jabbed back by requesting an apology from Obama for basically, being rude enough, to intrude on his private affairs. You can bet that many voters will go for this self-righteous farce and will agree (amazingly) that The President just doesn’t show enough respect.
Is all of this absurd? From the perspective of actually putting the matter to rest,YES.
All Mitt really has to do to make this go away, is to comply and provide transparency. Ironically, his refusal to provide adequate disclosure, make’s his culpability all the more glaring. Still, from a political perspective, all of his posturing and attempts to turn the tables on Obama, are only par-for-course. We should never underestimate the influence of people like Karl Rove, and other notorious spin doctors, whose pockets will now have no bottom.