Obama names Bill Richardson as commerce secretary

Thursday 04th December, 06:21 AM JST

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SezWho2 at 12:54 PM JST - 4th December

Helter Skelter,

What's wrong with having Richardson as Secretary of Commerce? How does applauding Obama's choice in this matter merit speculation about support for Bush versus support for Obama?

I didn't know that Richardson would get a cabinet post, but I think he is a good choice. He has administrative experience, diplomatic experience and he is an intelligent person. Do you have some beef with Richardson?
Betzee at 12:55 PM JST - 4th December

It's interesting, organized opposition to his nomination is coming from the Chinese-American community due to his refusal to allow Wen Ho-Lee, a scientist at Los Alamos in NM where much national-security related science is carried out, due process before firing him in the 1990s:

[T]he Chinese-American group insists that Richardson's refusal to acknowledge making serious errors in the case makes it a moral imperative to oppose his nomination to Obama's Cabinet. They say their criticism of Richardson has nothing to do with him being Latino but everything to do with his lack of judgment in the case.

"This was the major Chinese-American civil rights case in the last 30 years,'' said Albert Wang, a physician. "And there was a feeling among many Chinese-Americans, particularly in Silicon Valley, that Bill Richardson did a lot to promote the notion that all Chinese-Americans are potential spies.''

Don't know if it will be effective, but it's clear for the Chinese community this remains a case of Je me souviens as the Quebec license plate reads. "I remember."
Betzee at 01:40 PM JST - 4th December

I have published a major article on his tenure and what the world might expect; here is the URL, and please take the time to read the whole thing, especially the new ideas from individual Americans. I welcome any comments from readers of Japan Today, as well!

Your article is a rather short Op-Ed piece; it's the comments that take up most of the space. They do not contain news ideas but rather present existing ones well. Bill Richardson will have a lot on his plate.
stephenfox at 02:09 PM JST - 4th December

BETZEE: MY ARTICLE AT OPEDNEWS IS A RATHER SHORT OP-ED PIECE? I think it is about 6800 words. What would a long one be for you? If you examine it carefully again, you will see that I cultivated the comments from many many people in their submissions, and then the comments after the article are yet another matter. This is what I think of as dialogue. I believe many of them do contain new ideas. When you publish your own newspaper, you can call the shots, but meanwhile, I will keep doing my thing as a Contributing Editor. Mata, neh?
adaydream at 03:11 PM JST - 4th December

Helter_Skelter - You happen to be a portion of the 27% of Americans that don't believe that george bush is a piece of crap.

When george bush first got elected, I was disappointed, but I thought I'd give him a chance. Well george bush gave away $4Trillion, started the war in Iraq, etc..........

Well I'm going to give Barack Obama the same chance I gave george bush. I'm already disappointed he's talking about not killing the george bush tax cuts till 2011. Torques me off.

But so far I'm pretty impressed with who he's picked. I especially like USMC Retired Commandant Jones.

I happen to be a portion of the 73% of the people who were totally disgusted by george bush.

So I've explained that you are a portion of the minority who loves george bush. I'm a portion of the majority who feels betrayed by george bush.

We're hoping that Barack Obama's cabinet selections are as good as they appear. < :-)
Helter_Skelter at 04:19 PM JST - 4th December

adaydream

you are a portion of the minority who loves george bush.

What utter nonsense. I've never been a fan of Bush or the war in Iraq.

Barack Obama's cabinet selections are as good as they appear.

If McCain had won and kept secretary of the defense Robert Gates on, you'd be having a conniption fit right now. Obama keeps him, it's all good.

When george bush first got elected...I thought I'd give him a chance.

Sure you did.
USAFdude at 05:02 PM JST - 4th December

Helter - >If McCain had won and kept secretary of the defense Robert Gates on, you'd be having a conniption fit right now. Obama keeps him, it's all good.

The "conniption fit" would have come from McCain's winning. But now that we'll have a far better CnC in President Barack Hussein Obama to order and control Gates' every move, we'll finally see progress in the War in Afghanistan and that other place. Can you imagine how crushing it would have been for Gates to have had to take orders from McCain?! Thank Christ, he'll never have to.

Richardson and Gates are both excellent choices for the Obama Administration. Congratulations to you both, gentlemen.
Sarge at 09:21 PM JST - 4th December

"But now that we'll have a far better CnC in President Barack Hussein Obama"

As opposed to veteran and war hero John McCain? Or even GWB, who at least served in the Guard?

Har!
SezWho2 at 10:07 PM JST - 4th December

Sarge,

The best hospital administrators are not necessarily the best doctors. In fact, the best may not even be doctors. It's pointless to have civilian control of the military if we aren't really going to ever let a civilian do the job.
goodDonkey at 10:21 PM JST - 4th December

Obama makes yet another good choice. Doesn't it just make a person feel good that we are getting someone intelligent to run our country. His intelligence will help him to be a good Commander in Chief. After all it is his ability to make decisions that will make him a great leader and not his past service record. I think Hilary Clinton and Rahm Emanuel are probably his best choices for excellent leadership in the cabinet. His economic choices may prove to be a defining moment for the U.S. if we can turn around the gloomy prospects of a deep and protracted recession. The various economic teams he has assembled however could be the among the more stellar choices in the end.

Richardson would be responsible for input on the direction of the essential long term growth plans we must make for the future. I was concerned that our free trade stance could be weakened because of the fear that has been rampant in our nation over jobs. If we want to remain competitive we need to keep free trade and work on making sure it is fair trade. Bill Richardson supports NAFTA, GATT, and WTO. That is a very good sign, to me, that we will continue to seek progress in spite of our financial fears.
TooFarGone at 11:00 PM JST - 4th December

"His economic choices may prove to be a defining moment for the U.S. if we can turn around the gloomy prospects of a deep and protracted recession. "

I have to agree. Reassembling the Clinton gang of "Eisenhower Repubs" is a welcome signal. Let's hope markets respond.

Even Rove has praised Obama.

Must be driving the hard Left insane.

"Haahahahahaha. Too funny."
SezWho2 at 07:01 AM JST - 5th December

If America, which is largely centrist, had a "hard Left", I doubt that it would have voted for Obama. Obama is so far from being a "leftist" that only someone on the "hard Right" (if there is one) could see him as such. And if anyone is flirting with the notion of taking a trip to Insanity, it is much more likely to be the "hard Right" which will never forgive Obama for winning in the first place than the "hard Left" which always knew it did not want Obama to win.

It is largely immaterial whether markets respond to Obama's selections. Markets are not good indicators of economic fundamentals. Our goals should be to turn the economy around, not to bolster shareholder values.
skipthesong at 08:08 AM JST - 5th December

just in and odd. Reading that Chinese Americans aren't too supportive of Bill Richardson.... http://m.mercurynews.com/articles/188765990
adaydream at 08:46 AM JST - 5th December

Helter_Skelter we've debated george bush before and you have supported his policies. I'm not going to argue that today.

I'm pretty happy with Bill Richardson being selected. He was a candidate with some substance and I think he deserves the seat.

I'm not happy with this selection of Gov. Janet Napolitano, D-Ariz. for Homeland Security Sec. < :-)
Betzee at 11:03 AM JST - 5th December

Even Rove has praised Obama.

Must be driving the hard Left insane.

"Haahahahahaha. Too funny."

As opposed to the soft Left? I also recently saw the term "radical Liberals" here. It seems the ascendance of a Democratic government has forced those who would have preferred a permanent Republican majority, coincidentally Karl Rove's agenda, to see the other side in more nuanced terms. It's also evident that posters such as yourself, RR, and Wolfpack can only take pleasure from developments in Washington if you're sticking it to someone else. Hate to burst your bubble, but the response is "Karl who????"