I recently attended a "Presidential Candidates Forum" hosted by one of our local Democratic Legislative District organizations (Washington State will conduct precinct caucuses on February 9th). While the forum featured local surrogates for the actual candidates, the answers to a pre-determined list of questions were required to be from specific policy statements of the candidates themselves and not simply the opinion (or spin) of the surrogate. The questions ranged from Iran/Iraq, to Immigration, to Healthcare, to Energy/Environment, to restoration of the Constitution. While I went into the forum a Richardson supporter, I left even more convinced than before that we need experience in the oval office. Although there were many good ideas and plans laid out before us at this forum, the one thing that kept running through my mind was the truism, "Actions speak louder than words." Having served at every level of government, Bill Richardson is the only person running for president this year who has actually produced results in the areas that impact our country the most at this time in history.
As a congressman, Richardson introduced successful legislation to expand national park lands in his home state of New Mexico. At the behest of a constituent, he traveled to hostile territory in Sudan to successfully negotiate the release of US hostages being held there. During the Clinton administration he served as this country’s ambassador to the United Nations and as Secretary of Energy, serving with distinction in each of those areas. Currently in his second term as Governor of New Mexico (an arguably "deep red" state), Richardson has brought differing sides together to establish New Mexico as a model for other states in the areas of energy, education and healthcare.
Being bi-cultural (having spent the first 15 years of his life living in Mexico) Richardson is uniquely qualified to address the issues of immigration and trade with our neighbors to the south and elsewhere. In fact, Gov. Richardson has been successful in convincing the government of Mexico to do more to enforce security on their side of the border and to start cracking down on the make-shift villages that crop up to serve as the staging areas for illegal drugs and human trafficking into New Mexico. A skilled negotiator, Richardson has traveled the world to help negotiate the release of Americans held captive in Saddam’s Iraq, to secure the release of the remains of American Korean War casualties from North Korea, to secure a cease fire in the hostilities in the Dafur region of Sudan, and was instrumental in negotiating a halt to the nuclear weapons program in North Korea. In fact, this year, Gov. Bill Richardson was nominated for the fifth time for the Nobel Peace Prize. Try as I might, I am unable to find anything close to the level of accomplishment of Gov. Richardson in any of the other candidates. As much as I might love the "ideas" and "plans" that many of them have, I simply do not see results that convince me that they will be able to step into the role of President of the United States on the first day and begin to pull the country together to move forward on the important issues.
Unfortunately, I believe that the Democrats are on the verge of repeating the self-defeating strategy of the 2004 election cycle. Rewarding style over substance, rhetoric over results, it seems that, just as with Gov. Howard Dean before him, the experience of Gov. Richardson risks being overshadowed by the glitz and glamour of celebrity. Being fed by the media’s desire to report on a "horse race", polling numbers are broadcast almost hourly reflecting a set of "front runners" while in fact almost half of the voters questioned signify that they have no preference at all. Rather than enabling people to know what any candidate has "done" the political "reporters" dwell on vital issues of "grooming" and "celebrity endorsement." At media sponsored "debates" the time for candidate responses (indeed, even the opportunity to give a response) is based upon the "horse race" mentality, thus denying the voters to right to make a real choice based on direct comparison between all of the candidates. And, perhaps most harmful to our democracy, the nightly news (the place where most American still receive their news) seem to only be capable (or willing) to acknowledge that there are more than the two or three candidates they view as "viable."
With just 4 weeks to go until the first caucus goers in Iowa cast a real vote, I can only hope that the voters there will stop for a moment before caucus day and reflect on our shared experience of the last seven years and how "inexperience at the helm" has steered the ship of state so dangerously into the rocks. I hope they look closely at the people who are seeking this office and the opportunity to serve the nation – examine closely the qualifications of each. I hope they will measure actions against words. We can’t afford four more years of On the Job Training.
Gov. Bill Richardson - Experience for a Change.
Peace,
Chad (The Left) Shue