Last night, Secretary Clinton reiterated her current position on the release of transcripts of her private paid speeches to Goldman Sachs and other banking institutions. She won’t show hers, if the other candidates (including Republicans) show theirs.
Now, of course, Bernie can’t release any such transcripts because he didn’t give any private paid speeches to Wall Street.
What I am having a hard time understanding is the political strategy behind Clinton’s position. If she’s the nominee, either her Republican opponent will, like Bernie, have no such paid speech transcripts to release, and she will look like she’s just stonewalling to hide something. That’s not particularly good.
But what if her opponent is Trump? He has private paid speeches. And he will most definitely release his transcripts. Why wouldn’t he? He doesn’t say one thing in private, a different thing in public. And releasing his transcripts would put Clinton in a corner, one she has painted herself into. What does she do then? Release, or come up with another excuse?
Is this some kind of 11 dimensional chess move on the part of the Clinton campaign that I just don’t grasp?