The enormity of Mitt Romney's tax haven problem

By Richard K. Barry

Under the category of "worth repeating," here's what Josh Marshall at TPM had to say about Mitt Romney's use of tax havens:

I'll just say it: I don't think the political pundit class understands just how toxic the Swiss/Caymans/Bermuda accounts issue is for Romney. Not that they don't know it’s a liability at all. But I don't think they realize the extent of it.

On top of that he cites a report from ABC News that mentioned Ted Strickland's introduction for President Obama at an Ohio campaign stop:

"Oh, what a contrast, my friends, between these two men who would be president!" Strickland said, standing outside the Wolcott House Museum. "President Obama is betting on America and American workers, and Mitt Romney is betting his resources in the Cayman Islands, in Bermuda, in Switzerland and God only knows where else he is putting his resources."

As Marshall says, this is not about legality. It's probably all good and legal, but "how exactly do you understand that a man running for president has parked a lot of his money in offshore tax havens?"

His point, beside the obvious, is that it "rolls off the tongue" so easily. It's such a perfect way to prove the point that Romney doesn't understand, can't understand, the lives of ordinary Americans, that he isn't at all focused on American workers. It's all about what Mitt can get for Mitt.

I'm with Marshall on this. I have no idea how Romney spins himself out of this one. This is big.

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)