Obama Suggests Clinton Show Tax Returns

NEW ORLEANS — Democrat Barack Obama suggested Thursday that Hillary Rodham Clinton follow his lead and release her and her husband's income tax returns so the public can see where the $5 million she loaned her presidential campaign came from.

A day earlier, Clinton acknowledged that she had made the loan late last month. At the time, Obama was raising and spending more money than her heading into the round of presidential primaries and caucuses on Super Tuesday.

Asked whether he would call on the Clintons to release their tax returns, Obama stopped short of saying they should.

"I'll just say that I've released my tax returns. That's been a policy I've maintained consistently. I think the American people deserve to know where you get your income from. But I'll leave it up to you guys to chase it down," he told reporters on the flight to Omaha, Neb., for a rally.

"I've disclosed my income tax returns," he said. "I think we set the bar in terms of transparency and disclosure that has been a consistent theme of my campaign and my career in politics."

There was no immediate comment from Clinton's campaign.

Obama noted that Clinton is wealthier than he is. Asked whether he would rule out tapping his personal funds to pay for his presidential campaign, he said, "I don't have enough money to drop $5 million into a campaign."

Clinton's financial disclosures, which reveal only broad ranges of assets, place her and former President Clinton's wealth between $10 million to $50 million.

Obama released tax documents last year showing income of more than $991,000 for him and his wife, Michelle. The figure included his Senate salary as well as her income as an administrator of the University of Chicago Hospitals.

Comments

[JBelbute]

I don't believe the Clintonistas will ever disclose their tax returns. And if they did, would we really be able to believe that they are accurate. Lets see...How many of us believe what they say...even when they are under oath

[xufapemu]

Vetted means full dislosure.

How does that jibe with not releasing tax returns nor opening up documents pertaining to her years as First Lady?

No politician has ever in the history of the world hid something they were proud of.

Somehow we're supposed to believe that the Clinton's have been in some sort of stasis since 2001; when the bright light of the scrutiny dimmed on Bill's comings and goings.

Regardless of who our favored candidate is, we should accept nothing less than full disclosure of their finances and public records.

[catilinus]

I empathize with people who have decided not to vote for Mr. Obama because he is not their ideal candidate. Seeing all his faults, of which I am sure he has many, blinds so many from seeing what he represents to both us & the world. I feel pity for those with no sense of history, and true sorrow for the rest of the world that will continue to suffer because of Americans' disinterest in history. Mr. Obama represents at the very least a chance for the world to be able to exhale, if only for a moment. He may prove as shallow intellectually as his predecessors in the office, but at least Mr. Obama allows the audacity of a hope of having an American president that engages the country in a dignified discussion

[soot]

Intellectually shallow? He graduated magna cum laude with honors at the top of his class from Harvard and was elected president of the Harvard Law Review, and taught Constitutional law at the University of Chicago. He's not stupid.

[catilinus]

I am not saying he is stupid. He's the most intellectual person I've ever heard or read about running for president. What he will be after he's elected...­that I don't know. Doesn't matter. He's the best we've got that close to D.C.

[Ashall]

Exactly - he's very intelligent, so much in fact that he's able to view things from the "big picture". He's everything our country needs...an­d more!

[SeanGardner]

New TIME MAGAZINE Poll says Clinton is more beatable than Obama: http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1711123,00.html

[greejambri]

This is NEWS? The Republicans have been saying this all along, and continue to say it on almost a daily basis. Tonight on Rachel Maddow, Tucker Carlson said it again: With Clinton, the Dems stand a chance of blowing a golden opportunity because nothing will unite the Republicans behind McCain like Hillary Clinton. He then said that if Obama is the nominee, the election will be bulletproof for the Dems.

[Mileva Maric]

You sheeps are hysterical tonight!

All those people have been WRONG!

Run from the light Carol Ann!

[AlaskaJunkie]

Hillary is a shameless hypocrite. She tricked struggling single mothers into giving her 5 million dollars.

This is the most disgusting campaign trick I have ever seen. She is really a con woman.

I feel sorry for the thousands of Latino dishwashers and single mothers who are donating because they believed her.

Shame.

[IkeChicago]

Someone should remind Hillary Clinton of the fate of her fellow New Yorker, Rudy Giuliani. He didn't not adequately compete in the previously 5 primires but instead went off to Florida waiting for a win, Giuliani was at the time the front runner nationally and also ahead in Florida.

By the time the election got around to Florida, Rudy was no longer the front runner and lost badly in Florida. Hillary Clinton is attempting to pursue the same strategy in laying low and waiting for the Texas primary. Not surprising that Hillary fails to learn from history.

[ginnypoo]

She isn't waiting for Texas, she just spoke in Seattle and will speak in Tacoma tomorrow..­...facts, I recommend them.

[NC4Obama]

Meh they aren't putting much into the states before Texas, they already started hyping up the march states.

[presto]

Thanks so much for the history lesson, Ike. I hope Hillary is listening to you so she can avoid disaster.

[soot]

What's the big deal here? I should hope that in this day and age everybody who runs for president would be mandated to file their joint tax returns to the public. If you have nothing to hide from people, just do it. Appear the better person for taking the initiative and show us where your annual income came from.

[moda31]

oh stop it you're being too logical.

[Palito]

wow, this man is going for the jugular with his ambition. First the nasty "Harry and Louise" ads, then the low attacks on Bill Clinton's administration and now insinuating that Hillary is corrupt...­. by next week he'll be accusing her for Whitewater and the death of Vince Foster.

[nellie]

Well, he didn't bring it up. It sounds like a reporter asked him the question. And he didn't say anything about the Clintons, he just said what he had done.

I think the press is trying to drum up another spitting fight. I've heard a lot today on news programs about Clinton's "loan" to herself, so it's on the media radar. They're going to use it.

[specultr]

All of the candidates for both parties should be transparent with the American people.

[Ashall]

To Palito -
What's wrong with wanting to know where the $5 million came from. If it was a gift from a rich friend, isn't that breaking the rules? If it came from one of Bill's deals overseas, wouldn't that be a little difficult to explain? Hillary talks the talk of transparency, now has to prove she's abiding by the rules. If it's all on the up-and-up, no problem here.....

[Tasies]

Of course, Palito, you wouldn't want to divert the issue at hand; which is of course, disclosure, accountability, and transperancy. Now we wouldn't want a presidential candidate to have to deal with such inconviniences.

[Poised]

Ridiculous. Obama's just jealous that his book didn't get the multimillion buck advances that Bill's and Hill's did.

But his next one should command seven figures, so his day will come.

BJClinton has been out of office for almost ten years, and he's been very busy with those profit-making one-night speechmaking stands. Right up his alley, and perhaps he's still paying reparations to Hillary in the form of commingled funds. Perfectly legal.

Call my cynical. Yep.

[JadedAggie]

You've misread the intention. They are looking for her to disclose information regarding their investments. Nobody not even Obama supporters are going to care about money earned from books or speeches.

[ginnypoo]

She can show him her tax returns as soon as he shows us everything on Rezko, and no, he didn't just do 5 hrs work, they have known each other 17 years. I can't wait for the rezko trial to start to find out just how close they are. Snappish, arrogant, and now creating issues where there are none.....i­s this NEW Politics, seems kind of low-brow to me. Threats to the DNC isn't smart, but, he chose to go there.....­the only thing I want to know is does this Chicago-thug type threats seem new to you? Me, either.

[keee]

Well, they were millions in debt in legal fees by the time they got out of the white house. Hillary had written her book before that time. Sure, he's given plenty of speeches. He's also cut some shady deals with dictators of small countries. If they have nothing to hide, then why are they going out of their way to hide it??

[AdLib]

Obama sets the example. Obama is open with the public.

Hillary keeps White House documents about her time as First Lady secret. Keeps her tax returns secret.

Wonder if Hillary will follow this Leader or the Bush/Cheney legacy of keeping secrets from the American people?

[PT]

"Keeps her tax returns secret."

Again -- the Clintons revealed their income tax returns. The Clinton Foundation funding is separate from funding for Hillary's campaign. When will Obama supporters comprehend this? And when will they research further into how/why Campaign Finance functions in this country?

[realitytrumpsbull]

I think Huckabee got this answer, abolish the IRS, and figure out something else...the code is like swiss cheese, people trying anything under the sun to hold onto what they've got,
ekkynomik survival strategies, why not just do flat-out 10% consumption tax? That's all we are, right, is consumers, so, 10% consumption tax and get rid of the rest of it. That way, people won't have to get leveraged out of their homes only to have to re-buy them, or re-sign on mortgages they probably won't qualify for anyway...1­1 take away 213 leaves a bloody mess and some 'splainin to do...

[JadedAggie]

A flat consumption tax is a regressive tax. It is a pretty apparent thing to anybody that has thoroughly studied macroeconomics that if you apply a flat tax it will disproportionally tax the poor in comparison to their income. If I make 30,000 a year I'm likely to spend at least 25,000 a year so my tax rate would be 8.3% of my income. If I made 40 million dollars I would have to spend (Not invest, but spend!) 33.3 million in order to reach the same tax rate. Basically the difference in savings rates between the poor and rich are so disproportional that you cannot rely on a "flat" tax system.

[die4change]

If you have nothing to hide, why not show your income tax returns? You can bet Hillary won't ever allow this type of transparency pertaining to her finances. She made the loan last month and just mentions it? And, then says some of her staff will go unpaid? Oh, wait, they will get paid after all. Maybe just more of the same, more bulls**t? Wonder if we will ever know where Hillary gets her money...

[IkeChicago]

When hell freezes over Hillary will release her tax returns. That's a promise.

[PT]

Now, now IC, that's a pretty silly statement to assert, particularly since the Clintons have released their tax returns and will continue to do so. Obama is merely planting lil digs to rouse the crowd; some of which will come back and plant one square in middle of his ass! Cuz he's the "baddest and toughest" candidate alrighty!

[greejambri]

The Clintons are just plain slimy. God, the worst thing the Democratic Party could do is anoint these two the nominees.

[MartinEdwinAndersen]

Turns out that the news about Hillary Clinton donating $5 million of her own money while her senior staffers faced a loss of their paychecks may be just a ploy to win sympathy, again.

At first, the news of Hillary''s financial difficulties struck me as odd, but not because her outside funds were drying up.

After all, Barack Obama is showing us all that Hillary can''t even win a fixed fight, and "smart" money is not, well, dumb.

Still I asked myself, how was it that someone of once modest means who claimed to have worked tirelessly for 35 years ("fighting for YOU!") in the notoriously badly-paid public interest sector had become so wealthy?

Sure there’s been some financial scandals.

And as the late Sen. Everett Dirksen used to say, "A million here, a million there —it adds up to real money."

But why focus on the negative? What does the skelton of a scandal or six rattling around in your closet matter, when you have so much experience and a well-tested finger to the wind?

MARTIN EDDWIN ANDERSEN

[S1m0n]

""how was it that someone of once modest means .... become so wealthy?[/quote]

By being married to a man who gets 250k for delivering a speech.

[IkeChicago]

It's a loan, not a donation.

[Palito]

did you know she was paid 8 million advance for her book?

btw, i believe the candidate of hope got 2 million advance for his book.

[mirandaK]

Hillary gave the profits/money from the book(s) to charity. Obamah put his in the bank.
Got Rezko?

[Tasies]

"The candidate of hope". The Clintontops are in dire need of A) A blood transfusion and B) A Soul

[AnninCA]

He just can't get her goat. LOL*

Bet bucks she doesn't even respond.

[nellie]

It sounds like Obama wasn't the one to bring it up. He was asked. I think Clinton will have to show her returns eventually if she's headed for the White House. I think every nominee. has to do that.

[westview]

I don't what it is like in Chicago but in the west a combined income of 991,000K a year puts you in the top few percent of earners and makes you pretty damn rich. Surely he is not whining about how poor he is with that kind of income!

[westview]

Oh I forgot when your BFF's are Oprah and the Kennedys you do look like a pauper.

[keee]

No. He came from a humble childhood, raised by a single mother then by his grandparents. He had to take out tons in student loans. He was not insinuating he was poor. He was just saying he doesn't have the kind of money the Clintons do. They're worth (money-wise, at least) up to 50 times more than him.

[greejambri]

That would say volumes about her willingness to be accountable and transparent. I see too many similarities between the Clintons and Bush in terms how they run their organizations to ever consider her qualified for the highest office in the land. If she has nothing to hide, let us see it. Obama has. She won't reveal her tax returns, she never admits making a mistake, and always blames others for what she's done. Who does that remind you of?

[Dorian]

Poor Hillary she's always the victim. Boo hoo.