Friday, December 14, 2007

Richardson - ameniable to the left and the right

In today's Google Alerts, I found two articles that further reinforce an idea that I've been pushing for a while. Bill Richardson can truly bring the left and the right together.

First, an apparent conservative, Dan Calabrese, wrote that while no Democratic president is to his liking, Richardson is the best of the bunch.
Richardson is the kind of candidate conservatives would mention if asked, if you had to live with a Democratic president, who would you prefer it to be? The right way to answer that question is not to try to choose the least liberal. Any Democratic president is going to be a liberal president. If you had to live with a Democratic president, you’d want someone who is at least a grown up. Someone who understands how to make decisions. Someone who understands how the federal government works. Someone who has had to run something – like a state – where he was judged by his ability to preside over a growing, job-creating economy.

Someone like Bill Richardson. He would certainly not be a good president in the context of a conservative’s vision for the country, but he could be trusted to make responsible day-to-day decisions, and his North Korea follies notwithstanding, would probably not display the combination of inexperience and impetuousness that could put America’s national security at risk.
And on the left, Deborah White of About's US Liberal Politics Blog explains why she supports Bill Richardson for POTUS. She likes all the candidates, but says
My top two preferences are Barack Obama and Bill Richardson.

If casting my ballot on January 3, 2008 at the Iowa caucus, I would vote for Bill Richardson for two reasons:

Gov. Richardson's decades-long experience and great success as a diplomat, a member of Congress, as Energy Secretary and U.N. Ambassador under President Clinton, and as a governor who has balanced a budget, and solved education and health care crises.

Unanswered questions and lingering suspicions about Sen. Obama's health care proposals, as eloquently analyzed by respected progressive Princeton University economist Paul Krugman in his New York Times column.

If Barack Obama responds with clarity, transparency and honesty to the legitimate questions raised by Professor Krugman about this vital issue, I may still switch my vote to the senator from Illinois.

Barring that, I will vote for Bill Richardson. And if asked, I would urge my readers to do the same.


I know everyone thinks I'm crazy, but as voters begin to pay attention and the "inevitable Hillary" veneer starts to wear thin, Governor Richardson will pick up votes and win the nomination.

Folks should be ready for a Richardson v. Huckabee general election fight.

|