Today Bill Richardson, the Governor of New Mexico (as Mister Burns once said, “Hold on there. There’s a New Mexico now?”), came out and gave an endorsement to Barack Obama in the presidential race (and was sporting a rather nifty goatee as he did so).
What does this do to the race for the new few months?
Well, maybe nothing. Yes, Richardson is one of the most prominent Hispanics, but states with large Hispanic populations (Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California), have already had their primaries/caucuses. There’s a few in some of the states that are left, but not many.
What’s more important, though, is that Richardson is one of the most important members of the Democractic party and a super delegate. As such, his endorsement may carry quite a bit of weight with the other super delegates, especially since he’s known as being a friend of a Clintons.
Ultimately, I think this will really help Obama and I hope he’s considering Richardson for a place in his Cabinet should he win (let’s go for SecState, please). As a former Richardson supporter myself, the fact that he’s now endorsing Obama helps my choice to support him, but not a huge amount. But it does help some.
Also of interest were Obama’s remarks today during a question and answer period, where, at least when I was watching it, he said he favored eliminating Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the hideous, idiodic policy that bans gays from military, sort of. I certainly favor getting rid of it. He also said he favored a federal civil union plan for gay partners. Well, it’s not as good as marriage, though it amounts to the same thing, more or less (though shades of “seperate but equal” come to mind). Still, something at the federal level would be useful.
I’m going to do a larger article on gay rights and the 2008 Campaign at some other point, but for now, I find this somewhat encouraging. Along with Richardson’s endorsement of Obama, Obama’s comments on gay rights, and his wonderful speech about racism, gives me more confidence in my choice for him as our next President.
