Greetings,
I just wanted to share this with the group. CNN Larry King had a live interview with Governor Bill Richardson last night, and here is some of it:
KING: Are you surprised, Governor, at the flak you've gotten over the Obama endorsement?
GOV. BILL RICHARDSON (D), NEW MEXICO: Well, from some of the Clinton people, yes, because I felt that I very strongly considered this decision for several months. And I was always up front. And I made my decision based on the fact that I think Obama is the best person to be president because he can bring people together. And it's unfortunate that we Democrats are fighting -- Obama and Clinton and then surrogates.
I want to keep it clean. My reason for endorsing Obama was that I felt that we Democrats can't continue this bloodletting until the Democratic convention, that we have to come together.
KING: All right, he called you a Judas. How do you react to that?
RICHARDSON: Well, you know, I said that I don't want to get into the gutter like that. I want to stay positive. I think it's going to hurt his own candidate. You know, recent poll numbers show that Obama has moved up because of his speech on race. Maybe the endorsement helped a little bit. I just want to stay positive. This was the reason, Larry, that I made the endorsement, that the time has come -- very soon, after the next 10 primaries that are coming up -- Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Oregon, states like that -- that the party come together and select the nominee based on who has the most delegates, based on who has the most states won, who has the most voters, popular vote -- and that we move on and get ready for a very tough general election against Senator McCain, who is right now raising money, who's being a statesman around the world, who's even going into Democratic territory -- California -- to get votes.
I did this for party unity and I did this because I believe honestly that Obama has the intellect, the judgment, the competence and the enormous ability to bring people together. I saw it in Portland, Oregon -- 12,000 people -- young people, old people, a lot of new people coming into politics with their faces and expressions of hope and enthusiasm cling to every word. This guy has something very good that I think we should take advantage of.
KING: When you were in the Clinton administration in various posts, you appeared on this program many times. And I know you were close to the Clintons. You watched the Super Bowl with Bill Clinton in that historic picture. Was it emotionally -- I understand intellectually -- was it emotionally difficult for you to do?
RICHARDSON: Well, it was. I've already stated that right after that Super Bowl, I was about to endorse Senator Clinton. But something in me said wait a little bit, wait a little bit, wait for more primaries, see where things are. I really wanted to make the decision based on who was the most positive, who could bring the country together.
It was a very difficult decision. All day, the day I decided to go to Portland -- the day before -- calling Senator Clinton. It was a painful call. It was a wrenching decision. But you know you can't let personal issues, Larry -- and the president was good to me, but I was also good to him. I served this country well. I defended him when he was in trouble.
And when I was a congressman, I was already doing some of these international missions. And I've been a governor who has been shaped in his career by a good experience with President Clinton, but I've had some achievements as a good governor in many other areas on my own.
KING: We have an e-mail question from Debbie in Queen Creek, Arizona: "Have you been offered a position in the Obama administration if he is elected?"
RICHARDSON: No. And that never came up. People speculated about that. Plus, I have a campaign debt and I didn't ask anybody to help me with that. It's a manageable debt. But no, I did this despite the fact of my admiration to the Clintons -- to President Clinton, to Senator Clinton. But you know, I did run against her. I do feel, Larry, that, you know, other people -- a new generation of leadership -- that it shouldn't just be, you know, President Bush then President Clinton then President Bush then President Clinton. You know, there are other major figures in the party -- many experienced -- that didn't do well, like myself, like Biden, like Dodd and now Obama, who brings change and is such a fresh voice that a new generation of leadership needs to be given the exposure that they deserve.
And so it was a really tough decision for me.
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe
__,_._,___
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder