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Yesterday Bill Richardson announced he was ending his presidential run and dropping out of the race. Richardson was hoping to do well Nevada next week, but was polls weren't favorable. Richardson had nothing to gain to by getting blown out in Nevada. Plus, the New Mexico legislative session is starting up soon and he can get back to his duties as Governor.
Richardson was one of my final 3 choices. Out of all of the candidates, I agreed most with his plan for Iraq. Richardson understands that US troops in Iraq are targets, stuck in the middle of a civil war, and unfortunately are adding fuel to the fire over there. He also was very strong on education issues. He had the strongest position against NCLB, saying the law is unworkable and needed to be tossed out. He pushed for a minimum wage for teachers of $40,000.
In the end, Richardson's campaign was too focused on the issues and lacked an overriding theme. Richardson should have used his background as a diplomat and made diplomacy the them of this campaign. He could have created a vision of bringing people on all sides together to successfully end the war in Iraq, solve immigration, improve education. Instead he focused on his plans to solve these issues.
Richardson's campaign died because had too many 5 point plans. He seemed too scripted. Richardson's typical answer to questions about an issue was, "That issue is very important. I have a plan. First, I would...Second....Third....Fourth...Finally." This didn't come across well at all in the debates.
On a lighter side, Richardson displayed a great sense of humor on the campaign trail. At a stop in Marshalltown over the summer at the Iowa Veterans Home, State Rep. Mark Smith introduced Gov. Richardson as the Governor of New Jersey. Richardson came up to the podium and thanked Rep. Smith for all of his great work in the state of Idaho.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Richardson Ends Presidential Bid
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3 comments:
Sigh. I think he needed to say, I have a vision of America. We will live in a world where energy independence will be the norm. We will live in a world where the United States will be looked at as a moral leader, as a leader in diplomacy. We will live in a world where the focus of economic growth will be the middle class. America has great strength and great resources-- our strength and resources are called Americans.
I agree that he needed more of a vision. Yours sounds pretty good. When are you going to run?
Through all of his three-point and five-point plans, I felt I got a good idea of Richardson's beliefs. What captured my interest was his respect for international law, his experience with diplomacy, and his recognition that U.S. troops are occupiers in Iraq. His optimism--combined with his experience--led me to believe he could be successful in repairing some of the damage from the Bush administration. As I learned more about his plans for education, energy, and poverty, I decided to caucus for him. Unfortunately, he wasn't viable, and I went with my second choice, Obama, who (like all candidates) has his pluses and minuses. I supported Obama because of specific parts of his resume and his specific actions.
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