Romney's Tax Returns and the Politics of Perception

Politico Arena Topic: A Taxing Dilemma for Romney?

In 1968, Republican presidential candidate George Romney initiated the practice of releasing tax returns by making 12 years available to the public. Forty-four years later, his son, Mitt Romney, reluctantly made available only 1 year and that was only after withering criticism from his GOP rivals for the nomination. In 2008, when he was being vetted as a running-mate, Romney handed over 23 years of returns to the McCain campaign. No one knows for sure what the McCain people saw, but we are certain that Romney was not chosen.

By not releasing more returns, Romney leaves the impression that he has something to hide. Maybe he does, maybe he doesn’t. But in politics, perception is reality, especially at the presidential level. During a presidential campaign, transparency is the best policy because the questions will continue and the negative attention will not cease unless the campaign makes a good-faith effort to clear up any questions. Even members of Romney’s own Republican Party are questioning his motives in not releasing more returns—a sure sign that this tax return controversy will only get worse. President Obama did not put the birther nonsense to rest until the state of Hawaii released his long-form birth certificate in April 2011. That contrived controversy has now all but gone away except for the handful of nut jobs and conspiracy theorists like Donald Trump, Joe Arpaio, and Orly Taitz who can’t seem to let it go (and may also believe the world is flat and that the moon landing never happened).

For Romney, it is best to put that information out now, deal with the negative fallout during the summer, and have the issue behind him when he picks his running-mate and goes to the convention. By waiting, he only risks blunting the momentum he will need coming out of Tampa in the sprint toward election day.

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Origins of the Birther Nonsense

Politico does a great job this week of walking readers through the beginnings of the birther movement. For those of you who do not know what the birther movement is, they are the nutjobs and conspiracy theorists who are convinced that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States (Hawaii to be specific) and is therefore ineligible, based on the Constitution's qualification requirements, to serve as president. This is a topic of never-ending frustration for me and I have written about it a couple times before (here and here).

Politico shows that the birther movement actually began when Obama first ran for a a U.S. Senate seat in Illinois: "The original smear against Obama was that he was a crypto-Muslim, floated in 2004 by perennial Illinois political candidate and serial litigant Andy Martin. Other related versions of this theory alleged that Obama was educated in an Indonesian “madrassa” or steeped in Islamist ideology from a young age, and the theories began to spread virally after Obama appeared on the national stage – to the casual observer, from nowhere – with his early 2007 presidential campaign announcement."

The rumors were taken to a new level by supporters of Hillary Clinton during the 2008 presidential primaries: "As Obama marched toward the presidency, a new suggestion emerged: That he was not eligible to serve. That theory first emerged in the spring of 2008, as Clinton supporters circulated an anonymous email questioning Obama’s citizenship."

From there the lunacy has evolved and continues to thrive as GOP presidential and congressional candidates and elected office holders alike either subscribe to the birther conspiracy theory or do nothing to discount it. The disturbing part of the birther craziness is not that some fringe conspiracy theorists believe it's true. From the 9/11 Truthers to the fake moon landing adherents, there will always be a lunatic fringe who believe such conspiracy theories. However, when you have people running for president who start banging the drum, using conspiracy theories to rally the faithful, there's a problem. Donald Trump seems to be banking much of his early unofficial campaign on this madness. And when 45% of Republicans say they believe President Obama was not born in the United States and another 22% of Republicans aren't sure where he was born, that is downright scary.

So why does this notion of Obama's birth trouble so many Americans? Frankly, I think when you boil all this down to its core, it comes down to race. President Obama doesn't look like the 42 presidents who preceded him. He is a man of color. Even in the 21st Century, there are many white Americans who have a huge problem with that. And to them I say: too bad. Get over it. Disagree with his policies. Vote against him in 2012 if you so decide. White males no longer hold a monopoly on the White House so deal with it. Our first Hawaiian president is also our first president of color. In the future, this will be more and more commonplace. And what menagerie of conspiracy theories will be created then?

The "Birther" Crazies are Winning in Arkansas

We know that Arkansas consistently ranks in the bottom half with regards to public schools. Thus it comes as no surprise that only 45% of Arkansans believe that President Barack Obama was born in the United States while 55% believe that he wasn't or are "not sure" if he was. The birther crazies are winning in Arkansas.

I've already written on this topic and probably will again but the level of paranoia, fear, and ignorance in the United States is stunning. Newsflash America: your president is black and has an unusual name. He was born in Hawaii. He's an American and he's your president. Deal with it.

Hat Tip: Political Wire

"Birthers" Gone Wild

The above and below videos show the level of derangement among the so-called "birther" movement--people who are convinced that President Barack Obama is not a U.S. citizen and that his birth in Hawaii is a lie. I have a word of advice to the birthers: seek professional help. You are playing with a few cards short of a full deck.

John Avlon, a former Chief Speechwriter for New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, describes the Birther movement in a must see Daily Beast article:

"Welcome to the world of the “Birthers”—right-wing conspiracy theorists committed to undoing the 2008 presidential election by trying to prove that Barack Obama was not born in the United States. The movement is evidence that Obama Derangement Syndrome is going viral from the far right, proliferating beyond fringe-festival Internet sites. It’s in danger of a quiet mainstreaming along partisan lines—reaching into talk radio, cable news, the armed services, and even the halls of Congress."

The birthers may be Right wingers but crazies exist at both ends of the political spectrum. Who can forget the "truthers" from the Lunatic Left and the anti-government Libertarians who are convinced that 9/11 was a Bush/CIA/Israeli-sponsored plot to grab dictatorial powers? Both these fringe group of crazies are in the same league as the Holocaust deniers and those that claim the moonwalk never happened 40 years ago. (However, the moonwalk denier mindset did produce one of my favorite 1970s "B" movies: Capricorn One, a 1978 film starring James Brolin, Elliott Gould, and O.J. Simpson, Sam Waterson, Telly Savalas, and Brenda Vaccaro, about a faked Mars mission).

A number of organizations (including Factcheck.org, PolitiFact.com, Snopes.com) have looked at the evidence and found that this is all nonsense. So I repeat what I said earlier: seek professional help (of course, if you are a birther or truther or denier of any kind you probably won't because you will believe that the mental health professionals are also part of the conspiracy).

Unfortunately, birthers are starting to gain an audience and support from conservative members of Congress and congressional candidates. Of course conservative talk radio loons like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh have been beating this drum since the campaign.

It is sad that our politics have descended to this level. Reasonable people should be able to differ on policy without one side calling the other "socialist" or "communist" or questioning the president's citizenship. Of course, whoever said these crazies were reasonable?

Hat Tip: Political Wire.