On the March 28 episode of ‘The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,’ Bill Richardson, a candidate for president in the 2008 election, made an appearance. But, his campaign is one that rarely lands a story headlining the evening news or landing on the cover of any paper (except for maybe his local New Mexico outlets). The election is still 19 months away, but it appears that every media outlet is banking on making the campaign the bulk of their content from now through next November.
Already we have had reports of feuds between candidates over fundraising and luring away those who can get the big bucks, personal attacks and questions about candidates’ past comments or actions.
Republicans and Democrats are hardly lacking in announced candidates. The Republicans have no fewer than 11 candidates announced or expected to run, while the Democrats have at least eight candidates. Furthermore, with the election and the campaign that precedes it not going anywhere for awhile, there is still the chance that even more politicians might crawl out of the woodwork and enter the race.
Despite the long road the candidates and we face until November 2008, the media has been focusing most of its attention on just six of these candidates: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Rudy Guiliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney. Unfortunately, none of these candidates seem to be the best choice for the nomination. In my opinion, they all feel that they are almost entitled for the nomination for one reason or another yet fail to bring much excitement (although some of my friends over here on the left think it is quite funny that a thrice-married, pro-choice, moderate former-mayor is the leading candidate for a Republican-party that relies so heavily on the religious right as its base).
This election is being hailed as the most important election of the generation by much of the media. It is important because it is the first since 1928 in which a sitting president or vice president is not running in the campaign. While there is not a specific criteria or qualifications list for what credentials a presidential candidate must have, Americans are often skeptical of candidates from the legislature, evident in the fact that no sitting senator since John F. Kennedy in 1960 has won an election. This is often pointed out because of the candidates running, five of the Democrats are either sitting senators or their last occupation was senator, and four Republican candidates are senators.
On ‘The Daily Show,’ Richardson said, ‘Look, I’m not a rock star, but I’m the most qualified candidate to be president.’ And despite the claims of other candidates that they are qualified to run this country, Bill Richardson truly does have the credentials that America needs in its next president. Richardson is half-Hispanic and grew up in Mexico City before returning to the United States. He served as an employee of the State Department, was a congressman for a New Mexican district for almost 15 years, served the Clinton administration as Secretary of Energy and Ambassador to the United Nations and now serves as governor of New Mexico. When Richardson told Stewart, ‘What I believe, I bring. Immodestly, I can bring this country together,’ he was not just repeating the standard campaign rhetoric that we often hear from many of the other candidates. Richardson is a leader committed to overcoming partisanship, unlike many of his competitors who claim that they are, yet we all too often find them voting along party-lines in order to keep their power-base satisfied. Richardson just won reelection to a second term as a Democratic governor this past November, gathering 69 percent of the vote’mdash;in a red state!
America needs to get more excited about Richardson. As mentioned in this space last week, our current president ‘has made mistake after mistake and has done a lot to damage the integrity and image of America.’ Richardson, who has been a very successful negotiator with the likes of Saddam Hussein, Fidel Castro and Kim Jong Il and who recently went to Sudan to negotiate a cease-fire, is the man to restore the integrity of America. He is a successful diplomat who, according to his Web site, ‘know(s) face-to-face diplomacy can work.’
Another major issue that America faces is a looming energy crisis and the need to wean ourselves off of oil. Who is better than a former Secretary of Energy to know what strategies we need to utilize in order to achieve this goal? Richardson wants to put a stop to global warming and put more pressure on our country to get accustomed to renewable energy sources.
Most important is Richardson’s immigration policy. As mentioned above, Richardson is half-Mexican. He states that he sees that America faces a crisis with immigration, and he deals with it on a daily basis as governor of border-state New Mexico. While illegal immigration is an issue, Richardson’s platform is that America needs ‘comprehensive immigration reform to help secure our borders, protect our workers and our economy, and to be true to the ideals that have made this country great’mdash;a country of immigrants.’
Jon Stewart asked Richardson, after listing his long r’eacute;sum’eacute;, ‘What will be the secret that derails your campaign?’ The answer to that question is that American voters are not getting enough exposure to the well-qualified substitute for the less-than perfect candidates we see making the headlines on a regular basis. Let us not let the most qualified candidate be defeated by the media so we can actually restore the honor and integrity in our White House that the current administration has carelessly let fall by the wayside.