While Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama engage in a schoolyard fight over whose campaign David Geffen should belong to, on what American policy towards Iran should look like.
No nation has ever been forced to renounce nuclear weapons, but many have chosen to do so. The Iranians will not end their nuclear program because we threaten them and call them names.
They will renounce nukes because we convince them that they will be safer and more prosperous if they do that than if they don't. This feat will take more than threats and insults. It will take skillful American diplomatic leadership.
Diplomacy is more than just talking to people. It requires speaking credibly from a position of strength. As the U.
S. ambassador to the United Nations, as energy secretary, as a member of Congress and as a diplomatic envoy, I have always believed in and worked to achieve tough, credible and direct negotiations with adversaries. To be tough, you need strong alliances and a strong military.
And to be credible, you need a record of meaning what you say. By alienating our allies, overextending our military, making idle threats and antagonizing just about everyone, the Bush administration has undermined our diplomatic leverage.
Without Richardson's diplomacy, North Korea never would have come back to the table for six party talks, and reach any agreement (large or small) on nuclear weapons.
Unfortunately, on too many occasions the Bush Administration has been a bully, preferring to beat on its chest and spew rhetoric like a bunch of blowhards at a particular nation deemed "evil". Richardson brought North Korea back to the table.
Bill Richardson understands that you can't make peace by talking with your friends.
You have to directly engage your enemies, listen to them and show them respect. With these things, peaceful, diplomatic solutions are possible. Without them, the prospect of war looms.
In 2008, there is only one candidate with the experience to handle all of the foreign policy disasters created by the Bush Administration. His name is Bill Richardson.
From :
WHEN: 6:30 p.
m.
WHAT: Keynote address to the Broward County Democrats' annual Jefferson-Jackson Dinner
WHERE: Bonaventure Resort and Spa, 250 Racquet Club Road, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
Sunday evening, February 25 through Tuesday, February 27
- Shortly after finishing up at the AFSCME forum in Carson City, Nevada, Governor Richardson flew to Colorado
New Mexico Gov.
Bill Richardson has picked five prominent local Democrats to run his presidential campaign in Colorado, his exploratory committee announced this afternoon.
Tom Strickland, Polly Baca, Lawrence Martinez and Erich Bussian have been named co-chairs of his Colorado campaign, according to a release. The governor hired J.
W. Postal to direct the campaign and serve as spokesman.
In his picks, Richardson has chosen officials from the traditional party base, Latinos and organized labor.
And why does Mike call Bill Richardson the most electable Democrat?
He does retail politics like the second coming of Bill Clinton.
I met Richardson at a small coffee shop in Manchester, where a bunch of Young Dems had come to see him. The place was small, but packed. Richardson walks in, smiling broadly.
[...
]
The man is made of Teflon. Bill is a much less polished speaker than any of the other candidates. And he can get a little lost sometimes in answering questions.
But he's got an important attribute the other candidates don't have: he is made of Teflon.
[..
.]
The campaign called us. OK, this may be arrogant to say.
But the fact that the campaign set something up with us impressed me. The Edwards campaign was good to us, but even with their fabled net-savvy, we got 20 minutes with 14 or more bloggers there.
[.
..]
I don't know if it's Richardson or not, but someone on that campaign gets that.
And in 2007, that's an ace in the hole.
[..
.]
Hillary/Obama: We can do it.
Edwards: I'm doing it now.
Richardson: I've already done it.
More coverage of Governor Richardson in New Hampshire:
Tom St. Martin of Candia was encouraged by Richardson. "He's the first candidate I've seen that I want to support," he said, noting he saw both New York Sen.Hillary Clinton and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama last week.
More than 100 people gathered to hear the current governor of New Mexico and former United Nations ambassador and energy secretary in the Clinton administration.
Robin Lent of Durham said, “I’m here to find out more, he seems strong on foreign policy, like he might be able to straighten out the mess in Iraq.”
The other candidates can talk about foreign policy wishes, economic growth potential and forging an energy policy for the future, but Richardson said he has a track record of major accomplishment in all those arenas that exceeds his rivals.
He doesn't sugarcoat the domestic and foreign policy opportunities lost in the past six years.
The Bush doctrine of pre-emptive war has been "an unfortunate ideological choice" that has "caused a real disaster" in the country's stature that will take a long time to rebuild.
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson entertained an audience of over 100 at River Run Bookstore Saturday afternoon, keeping the mood light while offering his perspectives on foreign and domestic issues.[Who said Bill Richardson doesn't have charisma? Richardson's also a hard worker, and oh by the way, he's got charisma.
[...]
His sense of humor and charismatic grin kept the crowd at the independently owned bookstore laughing throughout his 45 minutes of remarks.
People packed spaces between bookshelves and behind the counter and cheered Richardson from word one on getting troops out of Iraq by the end of the calendar year through diplomacy.
]
In a trip that included visits to Concord, Manchester, Tilton, Portsmouth, Hampton and Holderness, Richardson attended the Concord fundraiser, four house parties, a bookstore chat and a very public haircut at Concord's Creative Colors Cuts. Richardson, who commands about one percent of New Hampshire's Democratic votes, according to a February CNN/WMUR poll, said he hopes to win voters over through face-to-face meetings in intimate settings.Experienced, charismatic, hard-working, and he gets results: .
"I don't come here, do one event in a gym and leave," Richardson said, a likely reference to rival candidate Sen.Hillary Clinton of New York, who came to Dover High School for a campaign event yesterday before quickly returning to Washington for a test vote on a resolution opposing the proposed troop surge in Iraq.
[...]
Gary Benson, the salon owner who gave Richardson a "health trim" Friday afternoon before a crowd of several dozen, had planned the campaign event as a favor for a customer who worked on the campaign. But he said that Richardson's experience and charm won him over.
"I think that he can break out of the pack," Benson said. "The guy's got a wicked sense of humor. I couldn't believe it: He's got charisma."
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