The Richardson Effect?
March 21st, 2008 at 10:04 am
(Update, Update II, below)
In the next hour, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson plans to publicly endorse Barack Obama, according to CNN. As of this post, the endorsement has not made it to the governor’s campaign Web site yet.
Richardson made the announcement in an e-mail to supporters, which begins, “after careful and thoughtful deliberation.”
Indeed!
Richardson could have made a difference for Obama in Texas, particularly with Latinos, had he chosen to endorse before the March 4 primacaucus. Despite flirtations with an endorsement, including a widely anticipated appearance on Face the Nation right before the vote, in the end he opted to wait. As Mark Penn of the Clinton campaign said this morning in a conference call, “[t]he time when he could have been most effective has long since passed.”
CNN is reporting that where the Richardson endorsement might have the most impact now is in persuading superdelegates to support Obama over Clinton. Hillary Clinton still has the lead in superdelegates, according to Politico.com, but the majority remain uncommitted.
Below is an except from Richardson’s e-mail:
Earlier this week, Senator Barack Obama gave an historic speech that addressed the issue of race with the eloquence, sincerity, and optimism we have come to expect of him. He inspired us by reminding us of the awesome potential residing in our own responsibility. He asked us to rise above our racially divided past, and to seize the opportunity to carry forward the work of many patriots of all races, who struggled and died to bring us together.
As a Hispanic, I was particularly touched by his words. I have been troubled by the demonization of immigrants–specifically Hispanics–by too many in this country. Hate crimes against Hispanics are rising as a direct result and now, in tough economic times, people look for scapegoats and I fear that people will continue to exploit our racial differences–and place blame on others not like them . We all know the real culprit — the disastrous economic policies of the Bush Administration!
Senator Obama has started a discussion in this country long overdue and rejects the politics of pitting race against race. He understands clearly that only by bringing people together, only by bridging our differences can we all succeed together as Americans.
His words are those of a courageous, thoughtful and inspiring leader, who understands that a house divided against itself cannot stand. And, after nearly eight years of George W. Bush, we desperately need such a leader.
To reverse the disastrous policies of the last seven years, rebuild our economy, address the housing and mortgage crisis, bring our troops home from Iraq and restore America’s international standing, we need a President who can bring us together as a nation so we can confront our urgent challenges at home and abroad.
During the past year, I got to know Senator Obama as we campaigned against each other for the Presidency, and I felt a kinship with him because we both grew up between words, in a sense, living both abroad and here in America. In part because of these experiences, Barack and I share a deep sense of our nation’s special responsibilities in the world.
Update:
MSNBC has the full video of the endorsement announcement at a rally in Oregon.
Update, II:
From Bill Burton, Obama Campaign press secretary, on Penn’s comment that Richardson’s value as an endorsement had passed.
“Long since? Actually, it must have passed awfully fast.
Bill and Hillary both called Richardson to ask for his endorsement March 18 — eight days ago, according to a source familiar with the conversations.”
Hmmm. Wonder who that source could be? Governor?
March 21st, 2008 at 12:44 pm
as the GOP slime tactics were perfected over the past 40-50-60 years (depending on whether you start with Nixon’s POTUS runs or his first Senate campaign) a large portion of the Democratic Party concluded that the only way to “fight” against the slime was to adopt similar tactics (fight Fire with Fire, so to speak)
along comes a younger candidate, imbued with the sensibility of a new generation whose whole lives have been conducted during the escalating slime wars and are rightly (pardon the pun) revolted by it. and he argues that perhaps it would be better for all concerned if such “Fire” were fought with “Water”.
so far it seems, that somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 of the american electorate are already on board with such a “new kind of politics” with perhaps an equal amount only waiting to be convinced that it can work before they too jump on.
Richardson may be correct in his “once in a lifetime” assertion. and after what i’ve seen in my life, my conclusion is to “give it a try” (as it is damn near impossible to imagine that it could fail so badly as to be worse than what we’ve already known)
March 21st, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Richardson could have made a difference in Texas among Latinos perhaps, but wouldn’t have done so for me or, for that matter, my parents, grandparents, and extended family (as many and as varied as you can imagine, from Eagle Pass to Dallas) who have individually chosen to support Clinton. Though I like Richardson, I don’t see why he would be thought to have much influence over Latinos in Texas because he’s Hispanic. If he were the candidate himself instead of Obama, that might be a different story for other Latinos . . . I’d still be for Clinton.
March 24th, 2008 at 10:05 am
thanks TO, it seems someone from DailyKos is watching (or just GMTA?)
The Obama Logic: Fighting Fire with Water
by epic
Sun Mar 23, 2008 at 03:48:30 PM PDT
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/3/23/152359/094/335/482758
March 24th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
As a Mexican-American from the Rio Grande Valley, where most of my family still lives, I have always been fond of Governor Richardson. He and Senator Obama were my choices for presidential nominee.
My family is the opposite of Sophie’s. We couldn’t think of what the Clintons had done for us Hispanics, which they kept trying to convince us as a reason to vote for Senator Clinton. But my family also doesn’t like the “status quo” and as a result we all voted for Senator Obama. Even my parents who migrated from Mexico in the early 70’s and just recently became US citizens, voted for Senator Obama. As my mother said,”Look how terrible the status quo was for Mexico (aka: PRI party). The US is in prime position to change its history.” The world is watching.
March 25th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Interesting that Richardson supported Obama when the Clinton’s helped him in his career much. But it shows that he isnt playing kiss up to them.
March 25th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
when Bill Richardson says the Clintons practice “gutter” politics, he may be understating it, from his own experiences. for what transpired in 1997 when he was Ambassador to the U.N. is likely part of the subtext of this year’s machinations (including the “false” (denied anyway) report of BR’s Iowa campaign advocating his caucus-goers to support Obama if they did not meet the 15% threshold)
a case could well be made of BR being “used, abused, and embarrassed” without being “trusted” in 1997 (which like so many things, boomeranged on the Clintons in 1998 and continues today) and such things, seemingly unimportant at the time, are what become History.