When I think about political issues, I usually think of specific areas of policy — health care, education, the environment, etc. — and shy away from the vague areas of debate, on points such as “trust” and “values.” The prior are more substantive and easier to dissect; the latter are ambiguous and subjective.
That said, I nevertheless admire the way Wesley Clark’s campaign is successfully talking about “secrecy” as a campaign issue. Clark is emphasizing the issue in a constructive way that helps bring attention to the constant concealment of the man Clark wants to replace.
On January 16, Clark opened his records — military records, tax returns that cover the period since he left the military, financial records, and voting registration — and made the documents available to the public online. The campaign put the whole thing online at Clark’s website, calling the area with the documents the “Online Reading Room.”
The campaign explained that Clark is committed to “reversing the Bush Administration’s secrecy policies.”
“It’s time President Bush played it straight with the American people. President Bush has shut the people out of government and told them they have no right to know what he says to special interests in the Oval Office. As president, my administration will be an open book. We need a higher standard of leadership in Washington.”
This strikes me as a smart move, as a matter of policy and politics. The administration’s Nixonian penchant for secrecy is outrageous and Clark, by establishing he calls an “Openness Doctrine,” is highlighting a Bush weakness in a positive and productive way.
At the same time, it suggests to the public that Clark is an “open book,” free of embarrassing skeletons lurking in his closet.
Perhaps most importantly, Clark is continuing to contrast his own style with that of Howard Dean. While Clark rails against government secrecy and puts his files online for everyone to review at their leisure, the campaign is subtly reminding voters — without mentioning any names — that Dean is doing the opposite.
In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this become a campaign issue between Clark and Dean over the next couple of weeks. It’s Dean, after all, who is still dealing with the sealed records from his terms as governor, was found to have run an energy task force that operated in secrecy, and was even sued by a number of Vermont reporters while governor because he insisted on keeping his daily gubernatorial schedule secret.
It’s an issue to keep an eye on as the campaign progresses.