Richardson Flies From Clinton’s Coop: Endorses Obama

Bill Richardson, former Clinton Secretary of Energy, now former friend and crony, has left the Clinton nest and flown straight to the Obama camp, endorsement in hand with visions of a Vice-President slot dancing in his head.

In an email sent to the Obama camp Richardson praised Hillary as “a distinguished leader with vast experience” while gushing about Obama who would be in Richardson’s words, “a historic and great president who can bring us the change we so desperately need by bringing us together as a nation here at home and with our allies abroad”.

According to the Brit newspaper, the Telegraph, foreign corespondent Toby Harden claims Richardson’s importance as an endorsement force ranks third after Al Gore and John Edwards. He also writes that Richardson’s decision was perhaps, a “sheer naked political calculation” as Richardson has “made it clear he desperately wants to be Vice President”.

While we agree on the “sheer naked political calculation” part and “desperately wants to be Vice-President”, we disagree on Richardson’s ranking as an upper tier endorser.

Richardson, a now very former crony of the Clinton administration who served as Energy Secretary and former UN Ambassador, does not bring the cachet of other endorsers such as Senator Ted Kennedy. Governor of tiny New Mexico, Richardson ran in the race for President but dropped out on January 10. While some candidates run for President, others run for Vice-President, this what we believe was Richardson’s intent.

Some believe that Richardson, a latino, can swing more latino voters over to Obama but this may not be necessarily true, it’s Clinton who has garnered the most support from that particular block of voters. Candy Crowley sees Richardson’s sudden popularity at the pre-primary prom as a more of a matter of Richardson’s superdelegate status:

“This is an endorsement that may help with the Latino voting bloc around the edges, but if that were Richardson’s target he would have done this before the New Mexico and Texas contests, both of which Obama narrowly lost, largely due to the Latino vote,” Crowley said. “So this is a larger message to superdelegates, those elected officials and party officials who in the end may well decide who the nominee will be.”

Richardson was invited to watch the Superbowl with Bill Clinton and later received a phone call where Clinton supposedly berated him for not making up his mind. (and not being a good little lap dog)

“What, isn’t two Cabinet posts enough?”, Bill asked him, referring to the posts Richardson had been given during the Clinton administration.

Who can blame Richardson for settings his sights on the VP slot? It’s a position that not only puts you in the history books but is also potentially just a “heart beat away” from Top Dog. While political pundits claim Richardson’s endorsement was extremely important we believe it fell more in the range of “medium”, that it really boiled down to Richardson’s status as a superdelegate in the upcoming Democrat convention.

We’d be shocked if Richardson ended up chosen as a running mate on the Democrat ticket. He doesn’t have a voter base to bring with him, he may be “out west” but Richardson is just not that popular, he’s failed to show he could pull in the big kahuna, California, or even his neighbor to the west, Arizona. Latinos are favoring Hillary over Obama, we doubt Richardson’s addition to the ticket would sway them enough to vote for Obama.

Time will tell if the governorship of New Mexico is Richardson’s glass ceiling in politics. Right now, his sudden popularity is due more to his superdelegate status. Whether or not Richardson “owes” the Clinton’s for his past positions in their administration is between Richardson and the Clinton’s. For now, he’s shown he’s a big boy, capable of making his own decisions, the office of Vice-President in his dreams.

The reality is that Richardson is wanted not for his potential as a running mate nor is his endorsement that big of a deal, it’s his status as a superdelegate which made him extremely popular to Hillary and Obama. His endorsement today sealed the deal, Obama has another superdelegate vote at the convention. Eventually Richardson will be back to playing governor of New Mexico or a possible position in the Obama cabinet, that’s if Obama wins the convention and then goes on to take the election.

By LBG

Image – Ungrateful Dead
Source – Telegraph – Bill Richardson to endorse Barack Obama
Source – CNN – Richardson Endorses Obama

Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page