Cut The Crap, Obama-Richardson Is The Real "Dream Ticket"

With all this nonsense talk about a "dream ticket" (what I, and others who have been paying attention think of as a "nightmare ticket") I'm sure that before long I'll have to write a lengthy post about how that is the worst possible idea, for about a thousand different (and painfully obvious) reasons. But for now, let's look at the positive, or who would actually be a great choice for Obama's VP.

I've been partial to Bill Richardson since he showed us that he wasn't planning to be a puppet for the Clintons. I actually liked the idea of John Edwards originally, before he made it obvious he was too afraid of the Clintons to stand up for what he told everyone he cared about during his (2008) campaign. Regardless, the more I considered Richardson, the more I liked the idea. At first I was worried that having two non-white candidates might push away too many white voters, but then I realized that almost everyone who is too racist to vote for a black-Latino ticket would be too racist to vote for a black-anything ticket, so there really isn't much to lose there, but Richardson would likely cause a lot of Latino voters to support the Democrats, so electorally I think it would be a win. He could even put Texas in play--Texas being the backbone of the Republican Party electorally. If we took Texas, the Republican Party would be toast, period. And it would also be likely to help us steal a Senator from Texas as well (the current Republican incumbent is a total prick, if you've ever watched C-SPAN). Not that my considerations only revolve around who would bring who to the table, because they don't. I think he has the right experience, and decent positions, and the right temperament and persona to fit onto a ticket with Obama. Here is an article that does probably the best job of articulating why Richardson would be the best choice, basically repeating most everything I've been kicking back and forth in my head for the last few months. Below that I'll post two three quotes from the article to give you a general picture of what it says, but do read the actual article, it is worth it:

For a "Change-Turnout-New Voter" Election, Bill Richardson Should Be VP Choice
by Paul Abrams, The Huffington PostFirst, experience:

Governor Richardson has been nominated 5 times for the Nobel Peace Prize, is loved by labor, is highly experienced in foreign policy having negotiated successfully with the worst regimes, has been an extremely successful Governor of a red-state growing jobs/improving education/raising teachers' salaries/raising wages and re-elected with 68% of the vote, is a former Energy Secretary -- one of the critical issues for at least 2 decades to come -- is pro-2nd Amendment, hails from the West... and, he also happens to be Latino.

Second, changing the electoral map:

Let us turn again, then, to the electoral map. Even without increased registrations, Richardson's presence on the ticket, as a highly successful Western, Latino Governor, would turn Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico blue and put Florida back in play.

On last thing, it ends with this:

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the progressive politics of change to win a landslide victory, change forever the map of American politics, and deliver on policies that the majority of Americans have wanted for decades, and to make the world a better and safer place.

Or, we could put a relic of the 90s on the ticket, kill our "change" message, kill our ability to say we opposed the war from the beginning, energize the Republicans, ruin our electoral chances, shrink the board, and stick ourselves with 4-8 years of intra-White House bickering and sabotage (if we somehow got that far). I think taking that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and going with Richardson is a far better choice. For me, that is the real "dream ticket".

Alright, I suck at doing positive, so check out my blog here to see why the nightmare ticket is a horrible idea.

Obama-Richardson '08