{"id":3022,"date":"2008-03-25T17:57:00","date_gmt":"2008-03-25T23:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/03\/guvs-endorsement-of-obama-sparks-controversy\/"},"modified":"2008-03-25T17:57:00","modified_gmt":"2008-03-25T23:57:00","slug":"guvs-endorsement-of-obama-sparks-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/03\/guvs-endorsement-of-obama-sparks-controversy\/","title":{"rendered":"Guv’s endorsement of Obama sparks controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Gov. Bill Richardson\u2019s<\/a> endorsement last week of Barack Obama<\/a> has sparked quite a controversy. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

R<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>ichardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> is being accused of disloyalty and hypocrisy. Some of the criticism is fair and some is not.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Several people have e-mailed me to express anger because of this quote Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> gave the New York Times<\/a> in February when discussing how superdelegates like him should vote:<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cIt should reflect the vote of my state, it should represent the vote of my constituency,\u201d he said. \u201cIt shouldn\u2019t be because you\u2019re a fund-raiser or a big-shot delegate. Superdelegates should reflect their state or constituency. If superdelegates decide this nomination, it\u2019s going to look like big-shot politicians and fat cats decided who should be president.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>You\u2019d think that would indicate that Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> would support Hillary Clinton<\/a>, not Obama, right? After all, she won New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>, even if it was only by a slim margin. His words were clear: Following his own logic, Richardson<\/st1:city> should have endorsed Clinton<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Then again, as I\u2019ve written in the past<\/a>, Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> has a tendency to govern based on the do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do philosophy.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

So it\u2019s fair to call Richardson a hypocrite for endorsing Obama, and some have done that. But there has also been unfair criticism tossed at the governor.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Clinton<\/st1:city> supporter James Carville<\/a> has gained widespread attention for comparing Richardson<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> right before Easter to Judas. He called Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s endorsement of Obama an \u201cact of betrayal.\u201d<\/a> And Albuquerque Mayor Martin Ch\u00e1vez<\/a>, another Clinton<\/st1:city> supporter, told the Albuquerque Journal<\/a> that Richardson<\/st1:city>\u2019s two jobs in Bill Clinton\u2019s administration meant Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> should never have considered backing any other candidate.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThey (the Clintons) shouldn\u2019t have even had to ask for his support,\u201d Ch\u00e1vez told the newspaper. \u201cThere is no loyalty there.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Such criticism of Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> is completely unfair and based on a sorry reality in politics. While good policy and doing what\u2019s right should drive politicians, too many instead sell out their ideas in the name of loyalty. That creates a system that is based on who owes who instead of doing what\u2019s right.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Ch\u00e1vez and Carville reveal their true colors by leveling such unfair criticism at Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Democratic Party shenanigans<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Will Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s endorsement have an impact? Not nearly as much as it might have had before New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> or at least Texas Democrats went to the polls.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But it may have some impact. Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> is a respected, experienced negotiator, and that\u2019s an area where Obama is sometimes criticized for his lack of experience. Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> is also a high-profile Hispanic, and though his endorsement might have had an impact on more Hispanics if he had given it earlier, I\u2019m guessing the Obama campaign believes the endorsement is better late than never.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But there\u2019s more about this that is leading to criticism of Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>. The governor has said repeatedly, when pressed about whether he would endorse, that he doesn\u2019t think much of politicians\u2019 endorsements. Well then, why endorse? It\u2019s another example of the sometimes walking contradiction that is Bill Richardson.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Many Clinton<\/st1:city> supporters are up in arms about Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s contradictory statements, his lack of loyalty and the fact that he endorsed Obama. But I come back to the same point I\u2019ve made before on other topics: This isn\u2019t a government-run election in which citizens have guaranteed rights. It\u2019s a party primary process. Democrats empower their leaders to create a system that superdelegates have the potential to control.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

It does seem contrary to the principles of the Democratic Party to give the superdelegates the power to override the will of average Dems. All Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> is doing in this instance is exercising the power rank-and-file Democrats and their leaders give him. I don\u2019t particularly like such party shenanigans either, but that\u2019s part of the reason I\u2019m not a registered member of any political party.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gov. Bill Richardson\u2019s endorsement last week of Barack Obama has sparked quite a controversy. Richardson is being accused of disloyalty and hypocrisy. Some of the criticism is fair and some is not. Several people have e-mailed me to express anger because of this quote Richardson gave the New York Times in February when discussing how […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3022\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}