‘Will tax returns help Mitt Romney?’
Gov. Romney’s tax returns are relevant, just as Newt Gingrich’s and President Obama’s are as well.
It is not only about wealth, or mapping his road to success. It is about taking the pulse of his moral core. Many of the headlines will cater to populist concerns and attempts to play domestic political “gotcha.” It is unlikely to contain revelations about bundlers to his campaign, or anything that is a surprise.
Romney’s financial disclosures from 2007/2008 contrast sharply with those he filed in 2011. The difference? Romney kept a promise about encouraging his Blind Trust to divest from Chinese companies that did business in and essentially helped to fund genocide in Sudan. He divested from companies with Iranian ties. His tax returns will either demonstrate his commitment to improve his record.
He did not advocate for divestment as a governor, his successor Democrat Deval Patrick did. Romney’s record on Sudan is relevant. Questions remain: did his private investments also include assets in China, Sudan or Iran? If yes, did he divest?
Mitt Romney, if he becomes the Republican nominee, has a responsibility to articulate a foreign policy ideal that expresses the best of America. His record on Sudan, if he has fully divested, will be be better than President Obama’s. The president’s broken promises and failure to lead, has only emboldened the genocidal regime in Sudan, it hastened devastation. And Sudan’s public affiliation and military partnership with Iran should force this to a front burner issue. Sudan is poised to be the next “Rwanda” moment. The next holocaust. President Obama, even with luminaries like Samantha Power, has left innocent civilians in Sudan and South Sudan, exposed to a harsh reality of government sponsored starvation, aerial bombardment, the destruction of fields and agriculture and peace.
Romney’s tax returns, whatever they contain, matter. However, what matters most is that he articulates a clear policy consistent with his public statements and private investments, and divestment. Americans are looking for a leader. President Obama brought in Samantha Power and Princeton Lyman and Scott Gration, all with solid records but also with domestic political agendas that trumped human rights or any belief in the “Responsibility to Protect.”