The revelations about Mitt Romney's Bain Capital shenanigans have tested his ability to climb out from a hole he dug for himself a decade ago when he shipped U.S. jobs overseas to make hundreds of millions for himself and his partners. Thus far, he has failed the test.
"Retroactive retirement" is destined to assume its place alongside the Bush Administration's assertion that they had not failed to capture bin Laden, but that it was 'a success that has not happened.'
Later this week the Senate is going to bring this entire matter to clarity. The "Bring Jobs Home Act" eliminates tax deductions for expenses that involve offshoring U.S. factories or business units OR up to a 20 percent tax credit for closing an overseas business and relocating the jobs in the United States.
What will Mitt Romney do? Will he continue his opposition to the bill? Or, will he take the opportunity to reverse his position? Will he support a law that stops the outrage of American taxpayers funding one of Mitt's principal strategies to make a fortune?
And if, by some miracle, Romney does decide to back the bill, his next test is leadership. Can he get Republican senators on board? The House has already blocked it. If he cannot, then he exposes his inability to lead.
At a fundraiser that raked in $1.7M, Romney just (laughably) asserted that Republicans are not the party of the rich. Of course, all his billionaire backers are investing 10s and 100s of millions into Romney because they care about the middle class, honest-to-goodness they do.
The spotlight will be shining brightly. The middle class, or what is left of it since Mitt's outsourcester and bankster friends had at them, will be watching closely.
What will the radical right-wing allow Mitt to do? Can he deliver?
When faced with a choice between paycheck equity for women and his right-wing paymasters, he chose his right-wing paymasters. He tried the transparent right-wing ploy of favoring the idea, but when push-came-to-shove, and people were called to stand up for it, Romney remained seated.
He can say anything he wants now about what he favors, women know with clarity that he will not do anything to ensure paycheck equity. Actions speak much louder than words.
This week, when faced again with a choice between the American worker and his right-wing paymasters, whom will he choose?
This time, it will be difficult for Romney to state that he opposes the idea of incentives for outsourcing, because he used them himself. Indeed, he enjoyed it so much, he outsourced the 2002 Olympic uniforms to Burma. This time, Romney may have to put-up-or-shut-up.
Any bets?