Several commentors, tweeters, and various talking heads noted how the First Lady took down Romney without even mentioning him. But what Mrs. Obama did was not just take Mitt down. She stated the qualifications by which a presidential candidate should be assessed.
We learned about dignity and decency – that how hard you work matters more than how much you make…that helping others means more than just getting ahead yourself.
We learned about honesty and integrity – that the truth matters…that you don’t take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules…and success doesn’t count unless you earn it fair and square.
We learned about gratitude and humility – that so many people had a hand in our success, from the teachers who inspired us to the janitors who kept our school clean…and we were taught to value everyone’s contribution and treat everyone with respect.
Of course she went on to make the case that her husband has these values in abundance. Most of the moments in Mrs. Obama's speech played on the bread in this values sandwich, and for obvious reason. If this election were decided on dignity and decency and gratitude and humility, it would be a landslide of historic proportions. Indeed, those moments were quite memorable.
He’s the same man who started his career by turning down high paying jobs and instead working in struggling neighborhoods where a steel plant had shut down, fighting to rebuild those communities and get folks back to work…because for Barack, success isn’t about how much money you make, it’s about the difference you make in people’s lives.
But when she spoke to honesty and integrity is when she was taking her jabs at Romney. And when she did so, she didn't so much suggest President Obama is better suited, but invite us into asking whether Mitt Romney has disqualified himself for the presidency.
President Obama, Michelle Obama, and Mitt Romney are all lawyers. Any lawyer can tell you there are two components to becoming license to practice law. First, there is the competency component. Candidates prove their competency by receiving their law degree and, in the vast majority of circumstances, passing the bar exam. But there is a second, less discussed component of becoming licensed; character and fitness review.
Character and Fitness review is a process whereby one demonstrates they have the honesty, integrity, and diligence required in the administration of justice. The process generally involves two parts. The first is through attestation of your honesty, integrity, and diligence by supplying letters of recommendation from various professors, employers, colleagues, and other associates. But that's pro forma.
The meat of character and fitness review involves divulging every aspect of your adult and in many cases juvenile life for scrutiny through the Character and Finess Questionnaire and the follow up investigation conducted by the character and fitness committee and their staff.
Character and fitness committees have enormous discretion to shove as many probes into any orifice they see fit. If they want to see the private employment files of some nothing job you were fired from 10 years ago, you have to produce it. Divorced? Turn over the entire court record, your attorney's notes, and transcripts of the proceedings. Kicked out of the dorms when you were a freshman? Dig up the student housing records. Missed a couple credit card payments? Show us your bank statement and paystubs.
Something fishy in your taxes? Oh yeah. The Character and Fitness Committee loves to dig through your taxes. But the reason they demand those taxes is not because of precedent. And it's not to assess just how dirty the businesses dealings of the applicant were. And it's not to have an argument about the grey areas of tax law.
It's because your taxes are a window into how you handle yourself when deciding between benefiting yourself versus having integrity and being honest. And while breaking the black letter law is certainly relevant in character and fitness review, so is evidence of contempt for the spirit of the law versus having integrity for the law.
you don’t take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules…and success doesn’t count unless you earn it fair and square.
If you decide that your taxes would reflect poorly on your candidacy to become licensed to practice law, there is no negotiation. Either produce the documents, or you're disqualified. It's as simple as that. You will be found to have failed in your duty to be forthright with the committee, and they will deny you.
If Mitt Romney were trying to become licensed to practice law today, putting aside the obvious strings he could pull to skirt the warranted character and fitness review, he'd likely be disqualified even if he did produce his taxes and they revealed no wrong doing. He has sworn under oath the leaving Bain Capital in both 1999 and 2001. This proves his willingness to lie under oath when it benefits him. It's perjury. Any average schlub applicant would have a real hard time overcoming the mere appearance of perjury like we see when comparing Mitt's SEC and FEC filings.
Of course this election isn't character and fitness review. This is 2012 politics with 2012 media, where character and fitness has nothing to do with honesty and integrity and the media has little interested in discussing these issues. But I felt the First Lady was inviting the American public, and the punditry, to consider honesty and integrity as characteristics not only nice to have, but necessary qualities to be the President.
And I’ve seen how the issues that come across a President’s desk are always the hard ones – the problems where no amount of data or numbers will get you to the right answer…the judgment calls where the stakes are so high, and there is no margin for error.
And as President, you can get all kinds of advice from all kinds of people.
But at the end of the day, when it comes time to make that decision, as President, all you have to guide you are your values, and your vision, and the life experiences that make you who you are.
Mitt's own flip-flops and lies combined with his running mate leaving scorched pataloons across the land makes it near impossible to prove he has the honesty. The taxes would reveal Mitt's values, vision, and life experiences so the American people can assess whether he has the integrity necessary to make judgment calls.
The First Lady is asking the American people to hold Mitt Romney to the forthrightness we demand of common 'ambulance chasers,' and to find his refusal to release his taxes disqualifies him from the presidency. I hope the opinion makers will agree that it's an important question to ask.