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WaPo: What Trump and Clinton have in common:A resistance to transparency
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/what-trump-and-clinton-have-in-common-a-resistance-to-transparency/2016/02/26/c72f8634-dcb7-11e5-891a-4ed04f4213e8_story.html?tid=ss_tw-bottomexcerpts
Transparency is not the natural instinct of the politician. The political mind tends to think: What voters don’t know can’t hurt me. What political opponents, and media, do with information can.
So the ordinary urge is to hold close, to dribble out, to yield the bare minimum, unless the politician perceives some comparative advantage in revelation. (Think Jeb Bush, eye on Hillary Clinton, unloading years of gubernatorial emails, plus a gusher of tax returns.) The role of the media should be to counter this impulse toward secrecy, demand disclosure and — in appropriate circumstances and appropriate ways — inflict pain on candidates who resist.
So the ordinary urge is to hold close, to dribble out, to yield the bare minimum, unless the politician perceives some comparative advantage in revelation. (Think Jeb Bush, eye on Hillary Clinton, unloading years of gubernatorial emails, plus a gusher of tax returns.) The role of the media should be to counter this impulse toward secrecy, demand disclosure and — in appropriate circumstances and appropriate ways — inflict pain on candidates who resist.
The current campaign features two parallel arguments over transparency — on the Republican side, Donald Trump’s tax returns; on the Democratic side, transcripts of Clinton’s paid speeches.
The two issues are not equivalent, in that releasing tax returns has been a standard rite of presidential candidacy for decades. According to tax historian Joseph Thorndike, a contributing editor for Tax Analysts, every major-party nominee since 1980 has done so.
The two issues are not equivalent, in that releasing tax returns has been a standard rite of presidential candidacy for decades. According to tax historian Joseph Thorndike, a contributing editor for Tax Analysts, every major-party nominee since 1980 has done so.
Still, both candidates are resisting disclosure. Both are wrong. And both are revealing a troubling attitude that can only be expected to persist and worsen in the White House.
Clinton’s speeches are different in that we don’t know what’s there or not, which is precisely the point. Clinton’s stance has evolved from ducking (“I will look into it”) to brushing off (“happy to do it when everybody, including the Republicans, does it”).
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Clinton is running in a Democratic primary, against a candidate who has made her ties to Wall Street bankers an issue. Clinton argues that what she said in private doesn’t matter because “I have a record. I’m not coming to this for the first time.”
This has things backward. Yes, Clinton has a public record. But for voters worried about whether she would be tough enough on bankers, it seems reasonable for them to wonder: What did she say to them behind closed doors, at $225,000 a pop?
This has things backward. Yes, Clinton has a public record. But for voters worried about whether she would be tough enough on bankers, it seems reasonable for them to wonder: What did she say to them behind closed doors, at $225,000 a pop?
Voters beware. How politicians behave on the campaign trail offers a window into what they will do in office. Candidates lacking in transparency before Election Day aren’t inclined to improve once they win
I can think of a lot of other similarities but this is a start! Thank you Ruth Marcus!!
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Newlyweds Donald Trump Sr. and Melania Trump with Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bill Clinton at their reception held at The Mar-a-Lago Club in January 22, 2005 in Palm Beach, Fla. (Maring Photography/Getty Images/Contour by Getty Images)
