You are using an outdated browser.
Please upgrade your browser
and improve your visit to our site.
Skip Navigation

Was Richardson Pushed?

In the wake of Bill Richardson's dreams of being the next Malcolm Baldridge going up in smoke, Marc Ambinder writes:

You'd never know it, but the Obama team did not expect Richardson to take the Commerce job in the first place; they saw it as a demotion. But Richardson surprised them by saying yes.

It did strike me as odd that after being passed over for State, Richardson would take a second-tier cabinet post like Commerce (especially when you consider he'd already been Energy Secretary and U.N. Ambassador under Clinton). But I guess he was desperate to get out of Albuquerque. Which makes the spin that Richardson was the one who decided to withdraw his nomination seem a bit, uh, unbelievable.

--Jason Zengerle