PS to Bill Richardson

Oh yeah. I nearly forgot what I’d meant to write about earlier when I got all caught up in feelings... Governor Richardson, you are an extreme dork.
For those not as tied up in New Mexico politics, here’s the background: Former Presidential hopeful Bill Richardson-- friend to the Clintons because B. Clinton had given him several political boosts during his presidency (UN Ambassador, Secretary of Energy)-- is in a tiff with with the Clintons because Richardson is endorsing B. Obama. OK, so what’s the big deal? Nothing, except my governor is making himself a bit of a laughing stock, don’t you think?
Now I don’t have too many big problems with Richardson. Or I didn’t. I didn’t have too many feelings either way in the last gubernatorial race. I did think that Steve Pierce, his oponent, was a waste of time because he didn’t even campaign. Of course Richardson was going to win by huge margins-- no one even could tell you what his opponent looked like (of course, how do you like that we have to see Pierce’s face all over the place as he and Heather Wilson scrap it out for Pete Dominici’s vacancy?). But come on, Richardson. Thank you for completely abandoning us for your campaign (leaving us in the hands of the creepy Diane Denish) for months at a time. We all know, as we’ve always known, that your eye is on that Vice Presidential nom. And now the whole country knows it too, because you waited until the last possible minute to endorse the candidate you think will win, and showing us that you are first and foremost loyal to yourself. And here’s the deal-- if I were even able to join up with the Democratic National Convention (don’t think it’s likely that they’d want a registered Republican-- though, in the spirit of full disclosure, a moderate one-- at the convention), at this precise moment, I’m leaning Obama. But I’ll have less love for him if he picks old smarmy-face Billy. If there’s one thing I don’t like about politicians, it’s the way they make you feel like shaking your hand or placating you with double talk is just part of the process-- their ascent to the top.
One last little bit of irony-- at about 5:30 this morning, I saw my esteemed governor on CNN. He stuck to his PR and campaign managers’ talking point of "stopping the blood letting" blah blah blah within the democratic party. In his earlier bid for the presidency, Richardson talked about how he wanted to run a clean campaign and keep the mud-slinging out of it. But this morning on a national program, he said that the Democrats needed to unite in running negative ads in California against John McCain. Now don’t be under the false impression that I have a great deal of love for Johnny either-- I don’t. But if that’s not flip-flopping and self-serving, I don’t know what is.