Energy Secretary, UN Ambassador, now Commerce Secretary…I like Bill Richardson, but seriously, this guy is a cabinet whore! He just can’t say no! I’m sure he was wanting to be Secretary of State, but being a cabinet whore means that you can let your standards slip. If you can’t go to the prom with the captain of the football team (State), why not make out in the parking lot with the water boy (Commerce)?
Of course, there’s not anything left for him in New Mexico politics (after being a representative in Congress and governor), which is a probably a good thing since he seems a little too eager to get out of New Mexico and back to DC. The locals might not take to kindly to their own governor being so ready to take the next train out of town. I’ve never been to New Mexico, but I hear Albuquerque is nice…maybe Bill Richardson disagrees. Or maybe managing a state with one of the highest poverty rates, especially concentrated on Native American reservations, is kind of depressing and heading to DC seems a lot more appealing, especially considering Commerce doesn’t really do that much and the position traditionally goes to a top political fundraiser/supporter while the actual work gets done by the managers and bureaucrats below him.
UPDATE: Sneaky is correct. As far as his political future, Richardson is getting term limited soon. But that is still 2 years away and doesn’t change the slightly unseemly manner in which he has shown his willingness to leave New Mexico.
sneaky
From everything I’ve read, Richardson was very mediocre in his previous posts. Salon says that his nomination is a nod to Hispanic voters, but surely there are other prominent Hispanic politicians (Perhaps the mayor of LA). It would be an opportunity to start a new generation of up and coming politicians. But I guess Richardson did come out and support Obama despite his ties to the Clintons, and Obama may feel that he owes him for delivering New Mexico, not that it was that necessary in the end.
I’ve always liked Bill Richardson. But I’m not sure what kind of job he did in Clintons cabinet. The Wen Ho Lee thing was kind of a cluster fuck, but I’m sure there are good things he did too. He certainly isn’t shy about saying what a great diplomat/negotiator he is.
A couple points about his career path…He is term limited in New Mexico…so even if he wanted to stay as governor, he couldn’t.
My guess is that if Clinton ever leaves the SoS post, Richardson would probably be well positioned to take the job.