If in 2008, then-candidate Barack Obama had refused to release his tax returns, we would not currently be in a run-up to President Obama’s re-election, because there would not be a President Obama.
Even if we control for the rise in cynicism in politics over the last three and a half years, the differences in the degrees to which Romney is being vetted — by both the official and “unofficial” online media, versus the degree to which candidate Obama was vetted in 2007 and 2008, are incomparable.
To be sure, there are blogs and television segments and stories dedicated to “Mitt’s mendacity” — and the sheer volume of his political miscues and misdirection will become the stuff of electoral legend. But it is Obama – as both as a candidate and now as commander-in-chief, who is afforded no pass by the media, and certainly not by his political opponents, when it comes to answering for his background.
Much of the voting populace assumes (correctly, I think) that religion is more of an issue on the right than it is on the left in American politics. So in 2008 it might have made some sense that so many of candidate Barack Obama’s political opponents (and even some of his allies) helped to transform clips from Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s sermons into a national phenomenon.
Even though Obama’s membership in Wright’s church in Chicago proved his bona-fides as a Christian – thus undermining the (continuing) assertions and beliefs by many Republicans that he is a Muslim – Wright’s performance of “black liberation theology” forever etched the phrase in the teleprompters of some news networks and in the minds of those Americans who continue to grope for anything that will help them to establish the then-Senator as anything other than American.
Every aspect of Obama’s faith, his religion, where he has worshiped, who mentored, advised, or directed him along his spiritual journey — all of it was grist for the political-media mill in 2008 and beyond.
How many national news stories have been run or written about Mitt Romney’s religious background? Have there been many cable news stories exploring Mr. Romney’s time as a Mormon bishop, or who his spiritual leaders or advisers have been? Have any of Mr. Romney’s political opponents written or aired “take-down” pieces about the Mormon Church or the historic connections between Mormonism and polygamy — including the polygamous connection between Romney’s family and Mexico — or any of the scandals that have rocked the Mormon faith over the years?
I don’t allude to these non-existent stories in order to incite the media to covering them – they are not important or relevant to Romney’s campaign for the presidency. What happens to be relevant here is the degree to which Obama was subjected to these kinds of inquiries, cynicism, and general disbelief and the degree to which Romney – who certainly faces ongoing questions about his own veracity – does not appear to face the same tenacity when it comes to the base level questions about whether or not he is “one of us.”
For one thing, most of “us” pay taxes. Meanwhile, the fact that at every financial turn — records from his tenure at Bain Capital, key documents from his time as governor of Massachusetts, financial records from his time as chairman of the Salt Lake City Olympic Games, and now his tax returns — Romney has been able to successfully deflect sustained media attention and investigation into his monetary life is a powerful signal that the playing field for candidates Obama and Romney has not been level.
Mitt Romney has been given a pass of sorts by the media and even his political opponents — save Harry Reid’s recent invective — for the issues that matter most to his own estimation of why/how he would be a better president for our great nation. If he is so much better a money manager than our current president, he should show us the money. The veiled nature of Romney’s financial dealings is simply untenable at this point – less than 100 days from the presidential election process. And the media have allowed him to come this far relatively uninterrupted.
Placed in the context of recent presidential history — consider Bush 43’s alleged drug use, failed ownership of the Texas Rangers, etc., or the extent to which Obama’s nationality has been called into question — the public vetting of Mitt Romney has come up short. The real question to ask is why.
Dr. James B. Peterson is the director of Africana Studies and an associate professor of English at Lehigh University. Follow James on Twitter at @DrJamesPeterson