The Bill Richardson Debacle: An Epic Fail for Obama
First Blago, now this — the transition has been a bumpy ride. (Also, Richard Miniter: Leon Panetta for CIA?)
One of my not-so-guilty blogospheric pleasures is Failblog, a site dedicated to chronicling the foibles and fallibility of humankind. As I write this, the front page carries stories of the “Amateur Fireman Fail,” “Parking Fail,” and “Height Estimation Fail.” Perhaps due to especially notable failures, the concept of an “epic fail” has now entered into the lexicon; one hastens to note that epic fails are not solely and exclusively covered by Failblog.
May I posit that the withdrawal of Governor Bill Richardson’s name as the nominee to serve as commerce secretary in the incoming Obama administration qualifies as an “epic fail”? Anytime a presidential transition is disrupted by the need to withdraw the name of a nominee for a high-profiled cabinet post, the transition process suffers. Given the nature of the withdrawal and the reasons behind it, the Obama transition has suffered an especially tough blow. Of course, Richardson is not the only symbol of an epic fail around here; the bulk of Barack Obama’s economic program is swiftly moving into epic fail territory as well.
Richardson was rewarded both for his decision to endorse Barack Obama during the Democratic presidential nomination contest and for his experience as a former congressman, energy secretary, U.N. ambassador, and governor of New Mexico. But as it turns out, Richardson has something in common with his fellow governor, Rod Blagojevich of Illinois. Just as Blagojevich engaged in a pay-for-play scheme that entailed auctioning off the Illinois Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama to the highest bidder, Richardson got involved in his own pay-for-play scandal. A grand jury in New Mexico is investigating whether Richardson steered state bond business to businessman David Rubin in 2004 in exchange for Rubin having donated $100,000 to two of Richardson’s PACs, money that primarily went to cover expenses for Richardson and his staff during their stay at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. In addition, Rubin donated $2,900 to Richardson’s campaign for president both in 2007 and in 2008.
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Pejman Yousefzadeh is a lawyer who lives in the Chicagoland area. He is a politics and law junkie, a chess and Go fanatic, and a compulsive reader.
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46 Comments
1. Berlet98:2009: NO ONE EVER SAID IT WOULD BE A FUN YEAR
Recent news reports attest to one truism concerning the human condition: the more things change, the worse things get. New years used to bring with them new hopes and notable changes. With all of five days down in A.D. 2009, this year promises to be one for the record books, and not for setting good records.
Three illustrative examples:
ONE: War Is Hell
William Tecumseh Sherman is credited with the brutally honest observation that “War is hell,” but the ongoing Gaza conflict has added a whole new dimension to that sage reflection.
Death and destruction are the handmaidens attendant on any war and collateral damage is always a sad and unfortunate by-product, but when it comes to the deaths of children as a facet of that damage, then bloody battles seem bloodier by far.
The savage forces of Hamas have taken the horror of war a step further. Rather than respecting the victims of an Israeli bomb attack, they chose to exhibit the lifeless bodies of the dead children of Hamas leader Nizar Rayan in a bizarre and ghastly funeral march.
Not content with simply tarnishing Israel with the fact that Israelis had killed ten of his children and his four wives, Hamas employed Rayan’s dead children as props in the battle for world opinion, brazenly and shamelessly parading them in all their grisliness for all the world to see: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1104296/Bodies-Hamas-leaders-children-paraded-group-promises-painful-revenge-deaths.html.
Israel’s hands are filthy in the assault on Gaza but, compared to Hamas’, they are pristine. Both sides are proving Sherman correct. War is indeed hell but some hells are worse than others.
TWO: More Flying Dirt
President-elect Barack Hussein Obama is finding that the path to his new residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is more pockmarked and potholed than the rocky road to Dublin. Teflon-coated during the presidential campaign when slime such as Ayers and Dohrn and Rezko and Wright failed to stick to his hallowed garments, Obama is discovering his media-generated mystique doesn’t extend to his retinue.
It seems transitioning is even more challenging than bowling.
First, it was soon-to-be hatchet man/chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel…
(Read the rest of this article at http://genelalor.com/.)
Jan 5, 2009 - 12:47 am 2. Amos:Er, war is hell? And the current scuffle in Gaza is especially hellish? About 400 people are dead, this is some sort of milestone?
Ever heard of a place called Stalingrad?
Yeah the arabs are parading dead children around, they’re barbarians, so what. It’s still nothing compare to what’s happening in the Congo and the Sudan every day, mass murder, mass rape, child soldiers etc. But out of sight, out of mind, no jews involved so nobody cares. The left makes me sick.
Jan 5, 2009 - 4:17 am 3. Ann:I’m trying to count up the number of articles I’ve read over the last two months detailing the Israeli neighborhoods blown up; I’m trying to remember the MSM supporting the Jews as they regurgitate gratuitous details of war losses for Jewish families; I’m trying to visualize recent articles and broadcasts reviewing the numbers and targets of rockets launched from Gaza.
Must be having short term memory loss. Coming up with nothing.
The only thing more despicable that the obvious terror and murderous intent of the Palestinian terrorists and all their Arab cohorts is the no-longer veiled complicity of the media, eager to have the bully like them. I’m beginning to think that the MSM has just completely surrendered because they think the Islamists worldwide are going to win and, when they do, the “journalists” want to be their buddies, not their targets.
Jan 5, 2009 - 4:42 am 4. SAF:Pegman:
Bill Richardson a crook? Maybe, but he is innocent until proven guilty. Obama made a mistake? Part of life.
This article is an example of the problem with America: Take any bad news about an opponent and turn it into a catastrophe. Could Richardson have conveniently left out this little problem when Obama interviewed him? Perhaps.
In any event this is much ado about nothing. Int the end what is important is who he hires and what that person does.
Full disclosure: I voted for McCain and I think Obama will not be a good president but while my voting for McCain is a fact my opinion on Obama is just that. I will give him time. Richardson is a blip.
Jan 5, 2009 - 5:13 am 5. vivo:“Richardson’s epic fail status”
Right-wingers love to use pompous words. Can’t accept that this is business as usual. Just noise.
Jan 5, 2009 - 5:13 am 6. Tennessee Volunteer:The Emperor (President elect) has no clothes.
Jan 5, 2009 - 5:15 am 7. Tomp:You wanted the job, now you’ve got it. To ford through these difficult times, it takes a leader who is grounded in principle, not back room deals!
A leader who suffers criticism in silence and does what he knows he should do because of principle and morals. we are finding that the democratic cabal (Pelosi, Reid, Dodd, Frank, Emmanuel) have neither. Does he?
What? A democrat involved in corruption? Noooo….
Jan 5, 2009 - 5:31 am 8. ~Paules:The scandal is how our previous governor, Gary Johnson, left New Mexico with a large budget surplus and how Mr. Richardson played it into a deficit through political patronage. You might think that a state awash in royalties from natural gas and oil production might salt a little of that money away for leaner times. Too late.
Mr. Richardson decided that what the state really needed was a 75 mile light rail system to connect Santa Fe with Albuquerque. Price tag: half a billion. No consideration was given to the fact that a perfectly good interstate already connected the two cities, and private companies had already created shuttle bus service to meet the need. I mean, really, why allow a private bus company to charge ten bucks a head when you can spend a half billion of taxpayer money for a public project to do the same thing? Any guesses on the end result? Anyone? Bueller?
That’s right! Local districts have been called on to raise taxes to cover the cost of a system no one wanted in the first place. How many times must we go down this road? Forever it would seem.
Jan 5, 2009 - 5:36 am 9. AnninCA:Richardson’s very endorsement in the primary was a fiasco. The way he did it made it all about him. I wondered if he was going to get around to even mentioning Obama at all.
I found it hilarious that Obama team said he wasn’t “forthcoming.” Good line, except the public even knew about this investigation by the time he was chosen. Therefore, they obviously chose to ignore the federal investigation. I’d certainly like to see more accountability regarding their process.
Jan 5, 2009 - 5:55 am 10. R a Z o R:Limp left wingers are use to this kind of
government . When will V P elect take center
stage to defend Obama’s judgement again ?
Jan 5, 2009 - 6:06 am 11. Ann:R a Z o r….good question! It’s kind of embarrassing to watch Biden explain Obama, but that’s actually been his role, hasn’t it?
Jan 5, 2009 - 6:40 am 12. Saltherring:Remember where Richardson learned the politico business…at the knee of the most corrupt US politician of the century, Bill Clinton.
And if Obama’s “trade” policies even remotely resemble Smoot-Hawley, the ride will really get rough…and hopefully more so for Obama’s deadbeat union buddies.
Jan 5, 2009 - 6:48 am 13. The Wizard:The Obamanation is just that! He has no experience, a cabinet packed with political pay-backs and his team vetted NO ONE! Who else will fall to the wayside? Perhaps Hillary? We are in for a very bumpy ride with The Empty Suit in the “leadership” role. How America could elect a man with absolutely no management skills, never holding a real job, totally devoid in ethics, morals and credibility, is beyond me. Race does not make a great president….experience, integrity and wisdom are essential character traits. Unfortunately, Mr. Obama has none of these, and the presidency is not a great starting place for “on the job” training.
Jan 5, 2009 - 6:53 am 14. Robert Hurley:I can always count on a good laugh when I come here. What a bumpy ride this has been? I can’t wait for the next eight years of the bumpy ride!
Jan 5, 2009 - 6:57 am 15. glenn:This is what happens when you send a smooth talking youth do do a mans work. And the press become cheerleaders for the smooth talker.
Jan 5, 2009 - 7:16 am 16. susan:robert hurley, we are laughing too, what you are not getting, as the majority of brain challenged people is that we are laughing AT you, not with you.
And yes, it will be a 4 year of total laugh, AT you.
Jan 5, 2009 - 7:26 am 17. Saltherring:Hey, Hurley, got your hand out yet for all the “free stuff”? Yeah, I thought so…
Jan 5, 2009 - 7:42 am 18. Jim Baker:Here comes Obamanation. “You asked for it, you got it Toyota” I hope there is still any hope for the change we will need by the time all of this is over.
Jan 5, 2009 - 7:45 am 19. Cybergeezer:Like all the predictions, the incompetency of Obama shall cause the U.S. at least four years of embarrassment and deteriorating respect planet wide.
Jan 5, 2009 - 8:07 am 20. jerryofva:Heah Hurley, people like you will help me get through the next four years. It just makes me burst out laughing when you post because you haven’t figured out that the Messiah has double crossed you. He’s the Bernie Maddoff of politics. He has taken your money and given us Bush III. Wake up and smell the coffee. You have been had.
Jan 5, 2009 - 8:23 am 21. stu.b.con:Repeat thie over and over…culture of corruption, culture of corruption, culture of corruption, culture of corruption….
Jan 5, 2009 - 8:23 am 22. FLMom:Having been weaned on the politics of Chicago, I suspect Obama saw pay-to-play as an acceptable and accepted practice in politics. No big deal. Then Blagojevich took it too far. Obviously, the vetting process would have noted a grand jury investigation and the lingering questions in New Mexico.
What else are we to conclude other than Richardson’s pay-to-play scheme appeared too ordinary and acceptable to disqualify for office?
Jan 5, 2009 - 8:29 am 23. FLMom:I understand the FBI is investigating pay-to-play schemes in several states. Will any of us be surprised if around January 20th they are told there are other priorities?
Jan 5, 2009 - 8:38 am 24. John Galt:Richardson withdrawl
Yawn.
Obama lives is gilted cage and as long as he has the support of single white women in the media he will remain golden.
Jan 5, 2009 - 9:44 am 25. Robert Hurley:JERRY OF VA – Actually, this is exactly wht I thought he would do. You all believed in the myth that the right wing built. I know all of you must be sick that his favorables are so high. Oh – it must be a conspiracy brought on by the msm – or maybe aliens have taken over the minds of Americans. This is why you will remain a bitter minority in the good old USA!
Jan 5, 2009 - 9:57 am 26. K. Olson:Robert Hurley: – Actually, this is exactly wht I thought he would do. You all believed in the myth that the liberals spewed. I know you must be eleated that his favorables are so high. That is simply a conspiracy brought on by the msm – hussein has taken over the minds of you and all the other american progressives. This is why you will remain bitter in the good old USA!
Jan 5, 2009 - 10:40 am 27. ThinkingPerson:For some reason, american drank the kool-aid and then we pinned the tail on the donkey, (democrat jackass)
Robert Hurley….Any opinion as to why Obama did NOT vet Richardson properly for the job?
Jan 5, 2009 - 10:54 am 28. Sandy Salt:I see the level of discourse has not changed in my absence. The thing that gets me is that the state of NM is so poorly run and every one on the outside thinks Richardson is some sort of wiz. Richardson is running the state into the ground and I would not put him in charge of a lemonade stand let alone the nation’s commerce. Obama was trying to win future votes with the Richardson appointment, so he didn’t look too closely or even cared that the guy was under investigation.
This is just one in a long line of miss steps for a rookie and there will be many others, but he will be everyone’s President and needs our support. We don’t need to imitate BDS because that shows pettiness and blantant stupidity. We are all in the same boat and if it overturns then we all drown. So point and galk at the stupid man, but that guy is the one running the country for good or bad. We need to voice well reasoned opposition and constructive input vice name calling and emotional outbursts (see BDS).
Jan 5, 2009 - 11:10 am 29. Robert Hurley:TP – He certaily should have vetted Richarson better, but he is gone now and Obama acted soon enough to prevent diverting attention from getting his program enacted
Jan 5, 2009 - 11:13 am 30. jerryofva:Hurley:
If you really believe have written then you are a celebrity dazzled snob. If you like W’s policies and not the man and found it acceptable to destroy his presidency at the risk of losing a war then you are worse then a traitor. At least the treasonous believe in something other then going to the right schools. Oh, I forgot Bush went to the right schools.
Jan 5, 2009 - 12:39 pm 31. Robert Hurley:JOV – I happen not to have gone to the “right” schools. I severed in the Army for three years. You seem to call anyone you disagree with a traitor. That is simple childish name calling. I opposed the Bush war policies because they were based on a lie and ultimately lead to a rise in Islamic metalism which has made us less safe rather than more. I hate to remind you that Lincoln opposed the Mexican war when he was in Congress
Jan 5, 2009 - 1:19 pm 32. Sandy Salt:Robert,
Jan 5, 2009 - 1:40 pm 33. ThinkingPerson:I have to say that your take on the war(s) is wrong. We are safer here in the States than we were before 2001. Sure there is a cost and that costs are soldiers lives, which I do not take lightly since I served over there. I think you have it wrong and are being very revisionistic when you say that the war in Iraq was based on only lies because everyone thought Sadaam had toys of a nasty nature and that is the way he wanted it and there is no way of knowing what was burned in the oil pits or shipped else where before we finally did something about him. We were technically still at war with Iraq and had been wasting lots of time and money patroling the skies over Iraq if you don’t remember. Was it right to remove Sadaam? I don’t know, but I do know that not one single citizen sitting in an office in any US city has been killed since 9/11. I say that is reason enough to thank President Bush for a job well done!
#32 Sandy Salt…Amen!!
Jan 5, 2009 - 1:53 pm 34. myth buster:Obama is no George Bush. Obama is just like Bill Clinton, right down to his own version of Whitewater to start the administration. He also has a ton of Jimmy Carter mixed in.
Jan 5, 2009 - 3:37 pm 35. quasar:Now I’m starting to realize why the MSM pulled so hard for BHO. “If it bleeds, it leads”.
Jan 5, 2009 - 7:49 pm 36. huxley:BTW, will we still need an embassy in Kenya?
One may argue that as falls go, Bill Richardson is not all that epic. Still, it is something less than the hope and change transformation Obama repeatedly promised, and more like the “okey-doke” Obama warned against.
So do we just go back to be lulled by Obama’s wonderful speaking voice and fluffy words? Are we ever going to hold him accountable for delivering on all those bright shining promises?
Jan 5, 2009 - 7:53 pm 37. JackT:It’s good they cut it early. Anyway, I don’t don’t think Bill was too enthusiastic about the appointment. He wa
Jan 5, 2009 - 8:02 pm 38. Berlet98:There are epic falls and then there are epic falls:
MR. OBAMA GOES TO WASHINGTON; HIS KIDS GO TO SIDWELL
”But he’s got high hopes, he’s got high hopes
He’s got high apple pie, in the sky hopes…”
That 1959 song as rendered by Ol’ Blue Eyes, Frank Sinatra, comes to mind lately as we head toward a new national administration in two weeks. “High Hopes” was a ditty about a lowly ant moving a rubber tree plant, a prodigious challenge for any ant, but he amazingly succeeds in moving that plant.
Expectations are high, virtually through the White House roof, as Mr. Obama goes to Washington. They’re almost as high as an elephant’s eye and most Americans wish him the best of luck, even more than Mr. Smith had. He’ll need all the luck he can get, not for moving rubber tree plants but for moving the nation forward in very trying times. He’ll need luck just to get through Inauguration Day.
Inauguration Day should find, at the minimum, a few gazillion of his followers in D.C. waiting to catch and record his every word, to memorize and recall for their descendants and for general posterity his sage reflections delivered, with soaring rhetoric, on the future of the United States of America. Word is, Michelle Obama may feel proud of her country for the second time in her life!
Where Barack’s many disciples will find space to view or hear him is somewhat problematic, as is the question of where they will rest their weary heads following all the festivities and Inaugural Balls but, hey, if Jesus could feed multitudes with a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish, surely Obama will figure a way to feed and house his millions of minions.
It’s good to know that he had a great Christmas, holiday, vacation in the land of his birth, Hawaii. Considering the campaign drain, the state of the economy, the state of the nation, and the state of disorder the planet is in of late, Obama must really have needed an extended break in a multi-million dollar retreat to gather all his personal resources. He will need all his vaunted energy and charisma to deal with the problems of the universe.
It’s also a good thing that Obama has had little to say of late, and that Michelle has had less, since, as the President-elect has kept reminding us for weeks, the nation only has one president, (and one first lady), at a time. That’s been a selective mantra …
(Read the rest of this article at http://genelalor.com/.)
Jan 6, 2009 - 12:19 am 39. Cybergeezer:Addendum to my previous comment;
Jan 7, 2009 - 8:27 am 40. kevin c:Take a look at the Dow Jones today. U.S. optimism in the new administration is showing.
It goes farhter than DROOPY DAWG RICHARDSON. Seems Mr. RUBIN also has a number of questionable ties to Pennsylvania gov ED RENDELL, whos the very definition of a UNION THUG. RENDELL was also the same scum who tried in 2000 to exclude our SOLDIERS ABSENTEE BALLOTS IN FLORIDA.Seems BLAGO has lots of company. The one thing DROOPY DAWG, BLAGO AND RENDELL HAVE IN COMMON: TIES TO THE OBAMASCUM.
Jan 7, 2009 - 10:46 am 41. kevin c:one last thing GANG-IT SEEMS ERICSSON, THE CELL PHONE COMPANY AND THERE PARENT COMPANY ARE BRING AL-JAZEERA TO THE WORLD OF CELL PHONES. CHARLES JOHNSON @ LITTLE GREEN FOOTBALLS I BLELIVE HAS THE LINK ON THIS. I SAY WE NEED TO BOYCOTT OUR OWN SLEAZY COMPANIES LIKE GE AND ERICSSON WHO SUPPORT THESE SCUM.
Jan 7, 2009 - 11:02 am 42. paul_unalaska:I’m really surprised with Richardson ’stepping down.’ New Mexico ranks 37th in the country regarding population though 5th in the country for felony-type crime (http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/states/newmexico.html). It’s a frightening read and gotten me thinking: if NM’s situation is this bad, where the *ell is Richardson about putting the fence up and deporting the bacteria in his state? Oh that’s right, Richardson’s busy insuring illegals have welfare, food stamps, section 8 housing, equal opportunity employment and abusing a myriad of other services the taxpayer foots.
People discuss Richardson not being qualified as a Commerce Secretary. Tell me of his positive experiences as Governor?
Looking at the man, he’s the epitome of sloth, gluttony. It’s good for the country as a whole to see this bureaucratic waste-of-space getting some rightly deserved attention.
Don’t worry about Richardson. If he’s removed or loses his Governorship in the future, there’llI be a post available or created in La Raza for this enemy of the state. Buh-bye dirtbag..
Jan 8, 2009 - 2:36 pm 43. JackT:There is no failure here. Richardson should not have been chosen in the first place. I don’t think he really wanted it, and I don’t think Obama really wanted him. So everybody’s happy now.
Jan 8, 2009 - 9:58 pm 44. feckless:If almost appointing someone is an “epic fail”…
Are there words in english powerful enough to express what the actual person who is President Right Now has done and is doing to this country?
I’ve been called a traitor for criticizing the failed policies of George W. Bush, a “commander in chief” who has left the fox hole before the shooting stops.
Well once a deserter always a deserter.
I remember all the articles questioning the character of Bush’s appointees.
Oh wait that was just Harriet Miers’ lack of commitment to rapists’ rights, er I mean banning abortion.
Damn liberal media!
(PS as for the off thread comments about Israel. 1) Parading corpses is barbaric, making corpses is even worse. 2) If you love Israel so much, go move there, until I get a vote in the Knesset Israel’s political right shouldn’t set US foreign policy.)
Jan 9, 2009 - 11:51 am 45. kevin c:Im sure DROOPY DOG RICHARDSON has the same failed “memory loss” over his inept handling of the WEN HO LEE case while he was ENERGY SEC under BUBBA. Funny on how when you catch a crooked republican, they go to jail. When you catch a crooked demon rat, they hire there other corrupt demon rat lawyers(Greg Craig,Vernon Jordan etc). Droopy Dog still under investigation? I wonder if Patrick Fitzgerald deliberately screwed up the LIBBY case like he did with BLAGO. How long has WILLIAM THE REFRIGERATOR JEFFERSON been out ever since indictment. How long has CHARLIE FILTH RANGEL been crooked? Nobody ever has investigated DIANE FINDSWINE steering govt contratcs to her HUSBANDS business or FAT PIG JOHN MURTHA to his brothers business. To the SCUMBAG MEDIA if your a commie you get a pass. No wonder the CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE NY SLIMES, AND EVEN LARRY THE PORN KING SKIN FLYNT ARE GOING BROKE. They deserve it. They deserve each other. Even a-hole Soros cant pay all the bills.
Jan 9, 2009 - 2:44 pm 46. Jill Thompson:Obama = Epic Fail! hahaha! I feel so bad for you poor americans!! NOT! CANADA #1 = NEW SUPERPOWER OF AMERICA!!! HAHAHA!
Mar 3, 2009 - 2:02 pm