I'd sort of forgotten about Richardson--it seems like so long ago that this campaign started. It was nice of him to endorse in the middle of the Pastor Disaster, assuming that this is the middle and Obama is actually able to bring this to a close in a week's time. But according to Memeorandum, the Richardson endorsement rates somewhat less interesting than the now bipartisan passportgate, the sudden, collective epiphany that Hillary has no path to the nomination, and the Reverend.
Obama is going to need a lot of help with the Hispanic vote, and now that I'm reminded of Richardson's existence, it strikes me that he may make more sense as a VP than Jim Webb (I'm thinking that Rev. Wright may have been all the crazy an Obama campaign can stomach). Still, Richardson has his own problems. Writing at the Current, Graeme Wood explains:
Few politicians are as accomplished as Richardson; even fewer are as accomplished while projecting his air of bumbling and incompetence. By many accounts this impression is just a lack of charisma, and he has "substance" to make up for it. But the endorsement, embraced publicly by Obama, should provoke private shudders: This man is hexed.
Wood adds that in the end, Richardson faired poorly among Hispanic voters, raising the question of whether electing one of their own is particularly important to that community. And to top it off, Ambinder posts Richardson's endorsement speech which the Obama campaign distributed:
I also felt a kinship with him because we both had one foreign-born parent and we both lived abroad as children. In part because of these experiences, Barack and I share a deep sense of our nation's special responsibilities in the world.
[Turn toward Obama and smile]
Barack Obama, you are an extraordinary leader who has shown courage, sound judgment and wisdom throughout your career.
There are other explanations for stage directions besides bumbling and incompetence. For example, will Hillary require similar instruction when she is forced to make her own concession/endorsement speech? I'm thinking something like [Put down knife, turn toward Obama and smile]. And one of our readers adds that Richardson had an air of homelessness about him: "No one in the professional politics arena should have a goatee." Agreed.
