"Take a Look" says Romney. Okay, We'll Begin with Tax Returns

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mitt-romney-met-with-boos-in-naacp-speech/2012/07/11/gJQAqoSBdW_story.html

Governor Romney's recent failed speech before the NAACP (National Association of People of Color) in Washington DC challenged the audience to "take a look" at him. He claimed his presidency would be better for the NAACP members than President Obama. He challenged his audience to "take a look".

This flippant comment was surprising. He should have been more polite to his audience. After all, given the 95 percent NAACP support for President Obama, the Romney speech should, at best, have "made no news".

So, let's take the "take a look" challenge.

We want to take a look at Romney's record on truthfulness. Romney claims he wasn't a Chief Executive Officer at the venture capitalist company Bain Capital after 1999, when the company apparently shipped jobs overseas to create larger profit margins for investors. Yet, Bain reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) appear to be signed by Romney as CEO, after 1999. It's illegal for Romney to sign legal documents with the SEC, if he wasn't the CEO of Bain. Otherwise, anybody could sign for any venture capitalist company, undermining the credibility of regulatory oversight. But, of course, I've written about the secretive culture of the Romney campaign in a past blog. Ghost signing the Bain SEC documents on behalf of someone else might work in a culture where surrogates are legal, but that's certainly not a truthful way of doing business.

Taking a look at Romney's secret culture is like looking under a magnifying glass, because his reactionary responses are making the issues bigger. His political credibility is now questioned, even by his political allies. I wonder if candidates who might consider running as a Vice-presidential nominee with Romney would be dissuaded based upon this secret culture? People of integrity, like former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, for example, don't want their credibility impugned by running on a national ticket with Romney, when he's not being candid or truthful.

Let's take a look at Romney's tax returns. He's only provided one year to examine. Other presidential candidates for the past 30 years (says former President Clinton) released multiple years of tax returns. Romney is obviously hiding something in his tax returns, or they would have been released during the primary elections. Romney's messaging will be clouded by very important credibility issues like his tax returns, the off shore investments held by he and his wife, by Bain Capital's venture capitalist outsourcing, not to mention his dated signature with the SEC.

Romney's secretive tax returns are even more curious considering his father George Romney was forthcoming about his financial reports, 44 years ago, when he ran for President.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/09/opinion/krugman-mitts-gray-areas.html


Republicans who ignore these ongoing issues for the sake of political opportunism are unethical. They must put Romney in a room to get answers, then work on messaging and come out with the truth, on all the above.

Lets take a look at Romney's health care reform position. He wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare. It's really "Romneycare", of course, but now Romney, who created the plan, wants to divorce himself from having authored it. Rather, he calls Romney care "Obamacare".

There's no position by the Romney campaign to replace the ACA. When we look for Romney alternative health care reform plan, there's no place to go because it doesn't exist.Thankfully, Vice-President Joe Biden lifted the morale of the NAACP when he gave a rousing and inspiring speech to the same convention where, the day before, Romney challenged the group to "take a look".

Americans wrestling with where to place their votes for President in 2012 were given plenty to see in viewing the NAACP convention speeches. Romney's in you face challenge, inviting the group to "take a look", was a confrontational segment, while Vice-President Biden lifted the morale of the audience speaking about voting rights and social equality.

In the public policy world, what you see is eventually what you get after the debating dust settles. What you see in Romney is a challenge candidate who cannot address the truth about his taxes or Bain capital leadership. What you get from Biden is affirmation about the dignity of every human being.

Taking a look at Romney, voters are not liking what they see, until he shows us the truth.