So Mitt Romney’s losing the early tactical war:  He’s playing defense right now, over when he left Bain Capital (or as his advisor Ed Gillespie called it on TV yesterday, “retroactive retirement.”).

Added to the mix is his refusal to release any other year’s tax returns, so far only releasing the 2010 and an estimate for 2011 (most candidates release anywhere from 6 to 12 years of returns).

All of this is the chum for the media sharks, who suspect Romney’s hiding something, not necessarily illegal but embarrassing in some way.

And he’s refused to comment on the “controversy” of foreign-made American Olympic uniforms, refusing to say if the uniforms should be made in America.

As if any of this really matters.

In a way, the Obama folks who push all the Bain stuff on commercials and to the media are doing Romney a favor.

Because if middle class Americans took a look at Romney’s actual plans, they’d find him hiding something much more important to them.

Here’s why.

Romney’s endorsed the Ryan budget plan, saying in March that, “I’m very supportive of the Ryan budget plan. It’s a bold and exciting effort on his part and on the part of the Republicans and it’s very much consistent with what I put out earlier.”

Really?

If he really does support the plan, Romney’s got some ‘splainin’ to do.  The Ryan Plan doesn’t just make the Bush tax cuts permanent; his plan lowers the top rate even more, paid for by a reduction in spending and closing tax loopholes.

And here’s what it doesn’t do, something that Romeny’s so far refused to do, too:  explain what loopholes will be closed to help pay for the tax cuts.  Oh, the plan’s very specific about spending cuts — almost all cuts are aimed at social services programs, and not just for the poor.

So as someone who might have to live under a Romney/Republican Congress administration, I’d like to know what loopholes he’d end.  So far, silence.  Well, not silence, just stonewalling.  Romney has refused to say what loopholes he’d even consider closing, saying that he’d consult Congress first.  Okay, but you’re asking us to have faith that you will, without even telling us which ones you’d deep six.

To me, anyhow, that’s the more serious case of “I ain’t saying” from the Romney camp.  And we haven’t even begun to look at his foreign policy ideas, which include increasing military spending and extending the war in Afghanistan.

The hooey about Bain and his taxes keeps his real problems out of the spotlight.  He should be grateful to the media and Obama, not asking for apologies.