The Bill Richardson Blog

I posted an item yesterday featuring Richardson’s first response to the energy components of the State of the Union. It seems that the Governor has had more time to look over the facts and check out what Bush has really been doing–and the former Energy Secretary isn’t happy with what he sees.

“Lofty goals but a weak plan of action,” Richardson, a Democrat who is now New Mexico’s governor, said in a telephone interview with Reuters about Bush’s comments in his Tuesday State of the Union address.

“Look at the stats,” Richardson said. “The Bush administration has been asleep at the switch. We have gone from 54 percent dependence on foreign oil to 65 percent, according to the Energy Information Administration” (EIA), the analytical and statistics arm of the Department of Energy.

Vague promises to do research at the DOE are not going to solve America’s oil crisis. We need an Apollo program–and a President who understands energy.

In the State of the Union last night, President Bush called for (in a rhetorical sense) breaking America’s addiction on foreign oil, and (in a specific sense) calling for a 22% increase in Energy Dept research. Although we’re obviously Democrats here, we’re not reflexive Bush-bashers either, and Bush should get some credit for taking the time to point out this problem.

But we need to do more than point it out and call for a vague increase in research. Oil dependence is a national security crisis, an environmental disaster, and an economic disease. Boosting research is great–but not nearly enough, says Gov. Richardson:

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, speaking on CNN, said that other than calling for a 22 percent increase in Energy Department research, Bush was short on specifics.

“We need an Apollo-type program,” said Richardson, referring to the effort that put an American on the moon.

If someone hasn’t already forwarded you or linked you to Molly Ivins’ indictment of Hillary Clinton’s triangulation politics and our party’s need for real, courageous leadership, do yourself a favor and read it. I won’t pontificate on it; this is not an anti-Hillary blog and it never will be. Nevertheless, her column taps into real frustration we Dems have with our party leaders in Washington, who have a half-dozen administration and Congressional mistakes and scandals on their hands, but STILL won’t step into the gap and propose some reforms, some new progressive policies, anything at all, because they don’t want to be too liberal. Sen. Clinton, on account of everyone thinking she’ll be the 2008 nominee, is the most visible of this kind of Democrat. Remember the flag-burning thing?

Ivins ends her column simply and honestly:

Do not sit there cowering and pretending the only way to win is as Republican-lite. If the Washington-based party can’t get up and fight, we’ll find someone who can.

Here in the West, we’re on top of it, Ms. Ivins.

I’ve been slow to move on this story, since I thought for the most part it was inspired by mean-spiritedness. A while back, the Albuquerque Journal published a story (and many other outlets picked up) a story on Gov. Richardson’s tendency to be tactile with those around him. It’s not that the core of the story is untrue: the Gov is a hands-on guy. The one time I met him, he gave me the Man Shoulder Clap and messed up my hair a little bit.

(Check out the Wonkette picture of the Gov with a little kid. It’s funny and cute.)

It didn’t occur to me at the time that I should be offended or even notice that it was strange. The Journal obviously felt differently, produced a couple of quotes from the Lt. Gov. on the subject, and now there’s this “thing.”

The Los Alamos Monitor ran a rebuttal that’s too good to pass up. It gets at the core of this “issue”: that the governor is just an energetic, fast-forward human being, which is exactly what you want in a state’s chief executive.

But there may be advantages to a governor who is on fast-forward fulltime. We get a lot more work out of him. And we get a lot more work out of the staff with whom he comes in contact.

The Year of the Child, the immigration reforms, the railroad construction, the spaceport: these are things the LA Monitor says are the real stories. And they’re right. (I’m proud to note we’ve caught each of these policy moves as they’ve developed, such that I have a post to hyperlink you to for each.)

As Andrea and I have said many times, we’re not apologists here, and if I really thought there was something to this story, I’d have written about it earlier. I’m just loathe to reprint character assassination masquerading as news. If someone publishes a substantive critique of the governor’s policies, message, politics, or anything remotely relating to his fitness as a candidate and elected official, you can bet you’ll see it here.

Anyway, good on the LA Monitor for keeping watchdog on the local press.

At Soy Blue, there is a post combining a recent opinion poll with an op-ed about why Richardson is good for New Mexico. It’s a great read, so go check it out. Here’s the money graf:

In some sense, Richardson’s flair for entertainment is good for New Mexico, because it gets New Mexico out there in the public eye. It brings in business and industry.

Yes, of course, it puts Richardson in the public eye, too – which is what Richardson wants, for purposes of his own career and presidential aspirations.

But having a president from New Mexico wouldn’t be a bad thing for the people of New Mexico, folks. What would we rather have – a president from Texas? Yuck!

Living in New York, I’ve seen first-hand how well the “but they’ve got higher aspirations!” line works: not at all. I’d wager that New Mexico and the entire West would be better off with a Richardson presidency; from the sport fishermen who’d benefit from a sensible environmental policy, to the kids who’d be better off with increased health care and education, to those of us who grew up in the shadow of Cheyenne Mountain and prefer a leader who can effectively make peace around the world.

(Oh, and Richardson’s approval rating is sky-high, of course.)

Well, what do we have here? It appears that a living scout has written in to confirm BR’s story on his days as an almost-pro ballplayer. I don’t expect this to matter in the grander media narrative, which will have forgotten this story by 2007/08 anyway, but it’s still nice to see the Gov wasn’t making it all up.

Merry Christmas to all. Expect the post volume to pick up soon!

It’s tough to figure out where to file this item–”foreign policy” seems appropriate, but misleading… well, no matter how you categorizee it, I’m very impressed with the move by Gov. Richardson to expand the New Mexican space infrastructure. Briefly: New Mexico has a huge budget surplus coming, and Richardson is making a big push to re-invest some of that money in infrastructure that will help the whole state. It’s a great idea.

In the mid-20th century, space was essentially a curiosity. We sent guys to the moon not to do anything in particular, but to demonstrate that it was possible. And that was very interesting and very good, because it broke down the first barrier: “can we do this?” As the century wore on, and we got into the 80’s and especially the 90’s, commercial exploitation of space in the form of telecommunications satellites, consumer GPS devices, etc. became routine. The next logical step was taken with SpaceShipOne, the first privately-funded peopled space flight.

Now, it seems that Richardson is determined to keep New Mexico at the forefront of what is, in a few decades (perhaps a century at most), going to be the most profitable industry in the history of humankind: the commercial utilization of space. The article indicates that already about $20 million in fares have been paid by people that want to take privately funded trips to space, just to hang out in zero-g. This isn’t some pie-in-the-sky thing. Real people are plunking down $200,000 each for a ticket on SpaceShipTwo. That’s not nothing.

The cool thing, though, is that it’s obvious that Richardson gets how much more this can be beyond just space tourism:

But Richardson expressed hopes for the spaceport — to be constructed on the high desert near the White Sands Missile Range — that soar far beyond Branson’s sightseeing trips. … The governor predicted cargo service from New Mexico to Paris in “a couple of hours” and “orbital hotels” where space fliers could take a vacation of cosmic dimensions.

Darn right. New Mexico beat out Texas, California, and Florida for the spaceport. This shows real vision, and I like it. Fits well with the “frontier” image of the West, too.

My favorite tidbit: since the flights will be operated by Virgin Galactic, travelers will receive frequent-flyer miles on Virgin. Hilarious. I wonder how far that policy will flex as these space trips get longer–it’s about 239,000 miles to the Moon…

Bill’s new book, Between Worlds, is dotted with “Richardson’s Rules,” which are the Gov’s master tips on negotiation, gleaned from his very sizable experience in that field. They’re also listed together in an appendix. While I’m not quite up to typing out all 25 rules, I’m sharing my ten favorites with you here. For the rest, go pick up the book!

– Share the credit. Politics and diplomacy are team sports. Acknowledge it.
– Your style can be informal, but you must show proper respect.
– Know where you can settle. Identify eight essential goals and achieve five.
– Don’t concede absolutely everything the other side is requesting. Get something in return, even if it’s minor.
– If you are negotiating an endgame, allow a dignified way out.
– You can walk out, but only if you’re prepared to walk back in later.
– Give up the locale. Don’t insist on neutral ground, but go to his or her turf. It’s the substance that counts, not the place where you negotiate.
– Carry a bunch of nice pens, but not necessarily of Montblanc quality. When your opponent admires one, give it to him. When your watch is admired, don’t give it away. If you do, it’s a sign of weakness.
– Have others deliver bad news; it keeps you viable as a future negotiator.
– In most meetings, the law of diminishing returns kicks in after five minutes.

I’ve had the book for a few days, but the demands of school make it pretty hard to get a lot of pleasure reading done. I really hope to have a review up by this weekend. Stay tuned.