Though Gov. Bill Richardson was his typical casual, confident and friendly self during Wednesday’s Democratic presidential candidate forum in Nevada, one thing about him stood out:
While other candidates were taking shots at each other, Richardson was playing peacemaker.
The three frontrunners for the party’s 2008 nomination spent Wednesday fighting, with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama trading barbs in the media and John Edwards taking cheap shots at Clinton during the forum. Read about the Clinton/Obama incident by clicking here and the Edwards comments by clicking here.
In addition, some of the second-tier candidates, Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel, repeatedly took shots at their own party and Washington politics.
Richardson took a different approach.
“The worst we can do is tear each other down,” Richardson said in calling on Obama to denounce a donor’s attack on Clinton. He also called for all candidates to sign a pledge that they wouldn’t attack each other, but would save that for the general election against the Republican nominee.
That was the quote from Richardson that made it into most national press articles about the forum. It wasn’t the first time Richardson has asked for such a pledge from the Democratic candidates but, on the day that the frontrunners’ tiffs exploded, it had a lot more meaning.
Richardson knew it. He said at the forum that the public is tired of negative attacks, and he’s right. Richardson capitalized on the moment, and only Joe Biden responded by accepting his challenge.
Beyond that, Richardson didn’t stand out much, but he did appear competent and held his own. He was dressed more casually than the others, subtly setting himself aside as a westerner. But he received less applause than the frontrunners. He didn’t engage the audience as well as Chris Dodd, Gravel or Kucinich. He didn’t convey his plan for responding to the chaos in Iraq or his ideas about foreign policy as well as Biden. He and Tom Vilsack, the other candidate with gubernatorial experience, both emphasized the difference that executive experience would make, and both were effective.
Richardson stood out by being the peacemaker.
Why not? It’s what he’s built a career doing. Richardson isn’t the most knowledgeable foreign-affairs player in the nation, but he has seen so much success in negotiating because he is willing to go to places others won’t. He has the ability to treat others with respect even when they are unrespectable. He is personable and willing to bargain to get what he wants.
As governor, he has displayed the same ability to win consensus on domestic issues, in some cases through compromise and in other instances through bullying. He has dominated policy and politics in a way the state has never before experienced. He has a unique ability to bring people together to get things done.
Richardson made reference to that during Wednesday’s forum in calling for the party to select someone who can work in a bipartisan fashion to “bring this nation together.”
Like him or not, compromise and peacemaking are Richardson’s greatest strengths, though he is sometimes criticized for compromising when others think he should take a stand. Other times, he isn’t afraid to play hardball to build consensus, which has also earned him criticism. He’s made many enemies over the years. Who in politics hasn’t?
But he’s made a lot more friends.
In case you missed it, here is video of Richardson’s portion of Wednesday’s forum, in two parts, with Part 1 at top and Part 2 below it. For video of the other candidates, click here.
Though Gov. Bill Richardson was his typical casual, confident and friendly self during Wednesday’s Democratic presidential candidate forum in