Richardson
Richardson, predictably, gets destroyed on Meet The Press. His vanity trip crashes to earth.
The media wants a Democratic win, and that means a strong candidate, and that means Hillary. Former Cuomo staffer Tim Russert and former Clinton flack George Stephanopoulos are operating as shills for the Clinton campaign, and they are going to carve up any and all Dem pretenders. Tim did the job on Richardson here, and a few weeks ago George cut Edwards to ribbons. Obama will be handled more tenderly, but when he leaves the studio he will be damaged goods.
I think Richardson is a very decent governor here in New Mexico, that rarest of Democratic birds who actually cuts taxes and is business-friendly. That's not easy, faced with a legislature that thinks its job is to redistribute wealth so all New Mexicans will be equally poor. Richardson has also been fortunate to be in office at a time of budget surpluses, due to high oil and gas revenues; you can't fault his timing. He's pro-choice, approved medical marijuana, and supports the Second Amendment -- all libertarian tendencies I'm glad to see. The Spaceport is a visionary idea, no matter how it turns out. His plans for a regional transport system are also visionary, but those run a much greater risk of becoming a financial albatross for decades to come, long after he's left office.
Beyond the state level it's a different story, with nothing on Richardson's vita that qualifies as a springboard to national elective office. He didn't make much of an impression at the UN, and he flunked his big test, an executive stint as Sec. of Energy under Bill Clinton. The security scandals at Los Alamos happened on his watch, right in his home state, and he never achieved command of the situation. He could have done himself a lot of good by launching a top to bottom review and re-tooling of the entire security system at the labs, a real shake-up and house-cleaning, but he didn't. We know he didn't, because the same nonsense continues to happen over there, with classified files lately waltzing out with a low-level employee and showing up in a crack raid on a doublewide. His non-portfolio shuttle diplomacy to free prisoners from North Korea and Sudan were nice, but basically Jesse-Jackson-style free-lancing that has nothing to do with being President of the US.
Byron
The media wants a Democratic win, and that means a strong candidate, and that means Hillary. Former Cuomo staffer Tim Russert and former Clinton flack George Stephanopoulos are operating as shills for the Clinton campaign, and they are going to carve up any and all Dem pretenders. Tim did the job on Richardson here, and a few weeks ago George cut Edwards to ribbons. Obama will be handled more tenderly, but when he leaves the studio he will be damaged goods.
I think Richardson is a very decent governor here in New Mexico, that rarest of Democratic birds who actually cuts taxes and is business-friendly. That's not easy, faced with a legislature that thinks its job is to redistribute wealth so all New Mexicans will be equally poor. Richardson has also been fortunate to be in office at a time of budget surpluses, due to high oil and gas revenues; you can't fault his timing. He's pro-choice, approved medical marijuana, and supports the Second Amendment -- all libertarian tendencies I'm glad to see. The Spaceport is a visionary idea, no matter how it turns out. His plans for a regional transport system are also visionary, but those run a much greater risk of becoming a financial albatross for decades to come, long after he's left office.
Beyond the state level it's a different story, with nothing on Richardson's vita that qualifies as a springboard to national elective office. He didn't make much of an impression at the UN, and he flunked his big test, an executive stint as Sec. of Energy under Bill Clinton. The security scandals at Los Alamos happened on his watch, right in his home state, and he never achieved command of the situation. He could have done himself a lot of good by launching a top to bottom review and re-tooling of the entire security system at the labs, a real shake-up and house-cleaning, but he didn't. We know he didn't, because the same nonsense continues to happen over there, with classified files lately waltzing out with a low-level employee and showing up in a crack raid on a doublewide. His non-portfolio shuttle diplomacy to free prisoners from North Korea and Sudan were nice, but basically Jesse-Jackson-style free-lancing that has nothing to do with being President of the US.
Byron
posted by Byron | Wednesday, May 30, 2007
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