The former governor of New Mexico passed away Friday. Besides being governor, he was also a congressman, Secretary of Energy under Clinton and I think the UN Ambassador. Despite his ‘anglo’ surname, was classified as Hispanic and spoke fluent Spanish. I think the most important factoid about him, he was one of the few officials to ever speak to the dictator of North Korea in person, the second Kim, not the fat one we have now.
Fifteen years ago, he was originally my first pick for the Democratic nomination in 2008. I have since only have a tenuous association with Amerika’s evil lesser party. So why him? I wasn’t onboard with the first Black Republican Obummer? Nope. I sided with Richardson mostly to stop Bilary. If this country was ever going to have its first woman POTUS in my lifetime, it wasn’t going to be her. I was also against Black Nixon because he had only been elected to a national office four years ago, the guy needed more time to work on his image, policies, etc. We now see that fast-tracking him for the eight years of disappointment was the mistake leading to the rise of Girth Vader, the Teabaggers and the growing Fascism. But Richardson betrayed the Clintons by backing him after he dropped out.
Meanwhile, I felt he was a better pick based upon his past experience. Sure you would have the accusations of how he was an insider yet he had a better clue on how PDRK operated and the seriousness of the nuclear weapons’ program unlike Dubious, the asshole who let it happen and accelerated their schedule by invading Iraq.
Obummer did try to share the spoils by nominating Richardson to his cabinet with the Secretary of Commerce gig. He ended up withdrawing due to accusations of wrong doing; they never were credible and nothing came of it. I’m confident the Clintons were the ones to start a rumor as revenge. Remember, Bilary started the lie about Obama being born in Kenya during the primaries, not the Republicans, they aren’t smart enough to read a map.
I may have ever agreed with all of Richardson’s viewpoints or policies, as a former member in Slick Willie’s eight-year of Republican Lite, he probably promoted the Neo-Liberal lies. Yet after Richardson retired from public service, he dedicated the rest of his life helping others like Carter and not padding his ego and wallet as the Clintons and Obamas have done. He was Vice President of the Center for Global Engagement, an organization out to promote peace and he specialized in going to America’s numerous enemies to negotiate hostage releases, including WNBA player Brittney Griner from Russia’s clutches. Trying to save people from torture, life in horrific prisons and other inhumane fates is a career worth praising over a self-congratulatory 60th birthday at Martha’s Vineyard because you were the first something in a long line of do-nothing POTUSes who just used the job to become a multi-millionaire.
Thanks for all you did Bill! I have added your book How to Sweet-Talk a Shark to my reading list. If you could get a Kim to negotiate with you in good faith, I think you could teach me a few things about improving my interactions with fellow Earthlings!