Richardson Speaks to the Youth

Bill Richardson addressed the Young Democrats Spring Convention in Omaha last week. It's a bit long (~40 minutes), and I've only been able to watch about 25 minutes of it, but here's my impression.

He comes across as a fairly likeable guy. He pokes some fun at himself for his at times befuddled appearance during the first Democratic debate, but he still appears uncomfortable addressing a group. Or rather, uncomfortable trying to articulate his ideas in front of an audience.

As for the content of those ideas - they're mostly very good. Richardson says all the right things on Global Warming, education, and Iraq (he is the only credible candidate calling for a complete withdrawal). He repeats Kerry's mistake (I think) of trying to sell Medicare and Social Security reform to a bunch of young folks, and repeats some right wing frames in the process, but the biggest problem with his stump speech is his plan for rolling out these policy proposals. He's got this weird narrative, heavily reminiscent of the christian Creation narrative, whereby he will roll out 6 massive policy changes - any one of which could fill an entire administration - in 6 days. It's just not credible, and to my mind it actually undermines his impressive resume because it makes me wonder if seriously believes it or if he's pandering.

That sort of gets to the other problem. Richardson is by far the most qualified of all the Democrats to be President. Add on the fact that he has the potential for being the first Latino president, and this guy should be mopping the floor with Hillary and Edwards and leading the pack with Obama. But he's not. No one knows who the hell Bill Richardson is. It circles back around to the beginning of my post. He's got zero stage presence, and he doesn't have the Rock Star personality or status that Alex described yesterday in his post on Barack.

It's inspiring to see so many Millennials getting involved in the race so early, but it would be a shame if our votes were decided solely on a cult of personality and not the policies we would like a future administration to enact.

Update: And kudos to Richardson for taking the time to talk to the Young Dems.