The Final Richardson Grok

Welcoming Bill Home

By Emily Esterson, 1-10-08

	photo courtesy wikimedia.com

To most of us locals, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson’s announcement today that he’s out of the presidential campaign isn’t a big surprise. It became clear to us last week, after Iowa. Some paid campaign staff lost their jobs and returned home. The buzz in the journalism world was that he’d announce his decision right after New Hampshire.

I was chatting with an acquaintance in Massachusetts the other day, the day of the New Hampshire primary, in fact, and she said, “We love your governor,” to which I responded, he’s never had a snowball’s chance in hell of winning. It’s a shame, really, because Richardson does look good on paper. But why did he fail to break through? What was missing from Big Bill’s campaign, resume, presentation skills, that kept him in solid fourth place from day 1? Here’s my take on it, in no particular order:

1) Since the day he was elected governor, I’ve been astonished at Bill Richardson’s lack of oratorical ability. For such a smart guy, he sucks as a speech maker. In early speeches to the legislature, the chamber of commerce, what have you, I watched Richardson begin strongly, only to veer off, change direction, crack an inappropriate or even cruel joke on behalf of an audience member. He once stopped a speech about the progress of New Mexico to chide Public Service Company of New Mexico CEO Jeff Sterba, for reasons that were clear only to the two of them, and not to the rest of the 500 people in the audience. Now granted, he’s gotten better over the past year, working hard at stemming his rambling style. But compare him to the move-you-to-tears passion of Obama, or the down-to-earth, yet polished political style of Clinton, and that damn charming and good looking Edwards and you have a fourth place finish. Richardson charmed the reporters, bloggers and columnists one-on-one. Many wrote about what a nice earthy guy he is. Unfortunately, it takes a bit more reach to win over the American public. Homeric scholars note that oratorical ability was second only to sword skills in making a great warrior.

2) Although Richardson built his campaign on his qualifications, national, international and otherwise, political journalist Tim Russert pointed out in an early and poignant one-on-one interview with the New Mexico governor how poorly his state is actually doing. We’re still damn poor. We still have the highest number of uninsured in the country. We still are battling terrible DUI statistics, our high school drop out rate is astonishing (40 percent in urban areas). We have the film industry, yes, and the state investment program, but many of those incentives have failed to trickle down to those who need it most. Yes, job growth is increasing, and the economy is better than it’s been in years—but we’re still critically dependent on the federal government for most of our economic growth. The ground breaking incentives that Richardson told the American people he’d initiated in New Mexico sounded hollow in the retelling, and not interesting enough to grab the imagination of the public. Who, in places like Iowa and New Hampshire, cares if Richardson initiated a commuter “train to nowhere,” as a friend calls it.

3) Even though Richardson initially had a lot of truck in talking about his plans for a complete pullout from Iraq, Obama and Clinton quickly, and more articulately, played catchup, with better ideas that seemed more reasonable to the many Americans. We’ve obviously gotten too far into the Iraq mess to just put every soldier on a plane and send them home. Although I think the American people clearly are tired of Iraq, we like happy endings. Obama and Clinton offered plans that seemed to compromise a pullout with a decent end result to the mess we now realize we’ve made.

4) To that point, although Richardson’s strong views won him points with some, his plans seemed strangely simplistic. His opponents, on the other hand, seemed to have a bit more grasp on the depth of some of these issues, like health care and education. Time and again during debates, you’d hear Obama or Edwards or Clinton say, “It’s more complicated than that.” What we got from Richardson was, “I’m going to end No Child Left Behind,” yet somehow what he was going to do to improve U.S. education got lost in the noise. To his credit he did offer up plans, but we didn’t hear them. Instead, we heard how Richardson was going to repair the damage done by the Bush administration, not what he was going to do moving forward. This was, perhaps, a strategic misstep. We’ve had a simplistic policy maker in the White House for the past eight years. The Democrats, at least, want substance, not sound bites. Even if Richardson had such substance behind him, he likely failed to articulate it well.

5) He’s not cute. I’d like to give the American public more credit, really I would. But Richardson is no Clinton (Bill that is). He is Clinton-esque in his charm, but he’s overweight and jowly and his hair is weird. Somehow, he’s just not that appealing on camera. Do we elect our presidents on looks? Maybe a little.  Even Richardson himself seemed aware of this: During the year before launching his campaign, local newspapers commented on the incredible shrinking Richardson. He was dieting. But after a month or two on the campaign trail, the weight crept on again (I can’t imagine how hard it must be to stay fit in such a physically punishing environment).

Richardson did have some great moments during the campaign: He demonstrated his negotiation skills during debates--attempting to both end and rise above the sniping between Clinton and Obama. He brought the Iraq issue to the forefront of the campaign, at least for awhile. He galvanized and solidified the importance of the Hispanic community to the U.S. electorate. And, in the run up to the campaign, he worked hard to build a better New Mexico, at least on paper, if not in reality. So what’s next? Vice president? Secretary of State? Perhaps. But with the start of the legislative session in New Mexico next week, Richardson will first be back to the state’s business. Does he still have a role to play here or has he forsaken us for the national stage? We’ll have to wait and see. 

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