No, but you know that Big K sees him as a typical liberal. ; ^ )
**Now what would make you think Obama would generalize Richardson as a typical Hispanic person? **
I don’t think he does. But I think he overestimate’s the ability of his organization, and Richardson’s pull, to overcome general Latino hostility to his campaign.
Richardson, to me, has validated Shelby Steele’s hypothesis that Obama is the “safe black man” for whom whites can vote. He said as much when he said that the main reason for his support of Obama was that “we have an historic opportunity, and we cannot afford to let that pass.” That’s as much as saying that a fellow like Obama (the “safe black man”) will not come around again in the near or mid-term future and that “we” (meaning non-black America) need to jump at the chance.
Steele also theorizes that the strength of Obama’s support with wealthier and more liberal whites is the fact that whites see voting for Obama, and getting him into the White House, as a way to expiate the stain of slavery that liberal whites believe still attaches to this nation.
I don’t believe Richardson to be a hardcore liberal, either, by the way.
T.
K,
“Richardson, to me, has validated Shelby Steele’s hypothesis that Obama is the “safe black man” for whom whites can vote”.
Seems to me this is a stretch. Does Richardson feel the need to jump to Obama’s camp because he thinks he’s a safe black man? maybe I’m misreading you here. My sense is that there are political chits to be had from endorsing the eventual winner (it is after all politics). As seems certain at this point Obama will be the nominee. As an endorser you want to endorse early but not too early (re: Gore and Dean), but you don’t want to seem late for no reason (you want a job with Marc Penn’s lobbying firm). Seems to me Ricardson’s played this one pretty well and if he does have an eye on the vp slot, his endorsement does him well. Of course Richardson might just think Obama’s the best nominee and it’s the honorable thing to endorse him…I know, crazy talk.
JFK/LBJ.
Kennedy wouldn’t have won without him, assuming he actually did win.
Seems to me this is a stretch. Does Richardson feel the need to jump to Obama’s camp because he thinks he’s a safe black man? maybe I’m misreading you here. My sense is that there are political chits to be had from endorsing the eventual winner (it is after all politics). As seems certain at this point Obama will be the nominee. As an endorser you want to endorse early but not too early (re: Gore and Dean), but you don’t want to seem late for no reason (you want a job with Marc Penn’s lobbying firm). Seems to me Ricardson’s played this one pretty well and if he does have an eye on the vp slot, his endorsement does him well. Of course Richardson might just think Obama’s the best nominee and it’s the honorable thing to endorse him…I know, crazy talk.
Of course there’s an element (maybe THE main element, truth be told) of politics to the decision. Richardson’s clever use of growing a beard, in order to butch up enough to gain credibility among the more macho Hispanic populations in the Southwest, demonstrates this.
But I can’t help but escape the conclusion, as does Steele, Larry Elder, Thomas Sowell and a number of other black writers and thinkers (most from the right side of aisle) who believe in the theory of black candidates being seen as “bargainers” (Obama is one…as he offers white America a bargain: “Vote for me because I’m safe and I won’t threaten the apple cart”) or “challengers” (Jesse Jackson is one…he made no promises to white America as to the eventual outcome of any successful Jackson run for the presidency).
Taken further, Steele and others now say that Obama has changed the dynamic, through his mishandling of the Wright issue, among others. Instead of being the man running for president who happens to be black, he is slowly becoming the black man running for president. This is a move from the “bargainer” position, to the perception of being in the “challenger” position, if his appeal to being a new kind of “post-racial” candidate begins to wane, as it appears it has, with McCain running as much as 10 points ahead of Obama nationally in some polls.
Don’t underestimate the belief that Richardson, knowing that he knows better than us what’s good for us as a nation, is saying when he states that we have a historic opportunity before us. That cannot be taken as anything else BUT a plea to vote for Obama prinicipally because he’s a black man and we as a nation can expunge the stain on our national soul from the past evils of slavery by voting for him.
T.