Just one week after endorsing the candidacy of Barack Obama, Bill Richardson, Governor of New Mexico and himself a former candidate for president, visited the Institute of Politics at Harvard to speak with students. Richardson is a study in contrasts: There is the glad-handing chief executive who meets with constituents one day every month in three-minute increments and holds the Guinness-Book world record for shaking 13,392 hands in an eight-hour period at the New Mexico state fair. And then there is the former Secretary of Energy and Ambassador to the United Nations who holds a graduate degree in international affairs and has negotiated with North Korea. He is the son of a naturalized American father and a Mexican mother. In an election dominated by the theme of change versus experience, he offered both.
Now, a week after endorsing Obama, and earning the epithet “Judas” from political consultant James Carville that will likely follow him around for the foreseeable future, Richardson reflected on his decision. “There’s something about Obama that I learned during the campaign that is good,” Richardson stated in measured tones. He acknowledged, “I don’t know what it is.” But he told the assembled students of his awe as he stood with Obama in front of 13,000 cheering people, most of them young. As for the “Judas” remark, Richardson said only, “I’m not going to get into the gutter.” He did say that the Hillary Clinton team expressed a “sense of entitlement” that did not endear him to her campaign. But he focused on the themes that have uplifted Obama’s campaign from the start: The ability to solve problems and bring people together, and to take on the issues that the country has too often ignored. The thoughtful address that Obama delivered on race in America, Richardson said, helped to cement his decision.
Richardson would not comment on his own vice-presidential prospects, noting only that he has enjoyed serving in public office for so many years and is grateful for all of the opportunities that have come his way in life. However, at the invitation of David Yepsen, columnist for the Des Moines Register, Richardson offered his advice for students who aspire to serve in public life:
1) “Work in a campaign. Do the grunt work.”
2) “Run for office yourself. Take a gamble.” He added, “Be prepared to lose in that first run,” as he himself did in his first run for Congress.
3) “Do it yourself.” Everyone, Richardson commented, can and should involve themselves in democracy. Richardson also noted, in retrospect, that law school is excellent preparation for politics, for it offers the ability to “synthesize” issues and address problems.
With the ongoing nomination contest, it appears that Richardson’s fate will not be settled until mid-summer. But given the healthy lead (in Richardson’s words, “insurmountable”) that Obama enjoys among pledged delegates, Obama’s perceived need of a running mate with substantial experience in international affairs, Richardson’s appeal among Hispanics, his position on Iraq (“Get out”), and his status as governor of a swing state that George W. Bush won in 2004 by less that 6,000 votes, one cannot help but think that this is not the last we will see of Bill Richardson.
–Vivek Viswanathan
