Richardson Defends Clinton But Blasts Her Aides

Can this be beneficial to the Clinton campaign? New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has answered comments from some aides to Senator Hillary Clinton who have belittled his endorsement of Senator Barack Obama or taken swipes at him by defending the Clintons and lambasting their aides.

Usually if someone prominent endorses a candidate, someone on the side that doesn’t get the endorsement then tries to belittle the impact, which is a normal part of campaign spin. But in this case some associated with the Clinton campaign have seemed to make it a bit more personal in their statements — and Richardson is showing that he won’t let it stand without his own response:

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said today that the people around Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton practice “gutter” politics and that they feel entitled to the presidency, a day after an informal adviser to her campaign compared Richardson to Judas for endorsing Sen. Barack Obama.

James Carville told the New York Times that Richardson, a former member of Bill Clinton’s Cabinet, had committed “an act of betrayal,” adding that it “came right around the anniversary of the day when Judas sold out [Jesus] for 30 pieces of silver, so I think the timing is appropriate, if ironic.”

“I’m not going to get in the gutter like that,” Richardson responded on “Fox News Sunday.” “And you know, that’s typical of many of the people around Senator Clinton. They think they have a sense of entitlement to the presidency.”

The “entitlement” enters into dangerous territory for the Clintons, given the number of commentators who have said over the past few months that Americans could balk at having Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton presidencies.

“I am very loyal to the Clintons,” said Richardson, but he said he wanted something beyond “Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton.” “You know, what about the rest of us?” he asked.

He called for “a new generation of leadership,” and added, “I think Obama represents this new change of not just bipartisanship, but bringing people together, bringing races together, bringing America’s role in the world to be respected again.

Richardson’s comments will be less easy to dismiss since in the same breath he refused to agree with against charges by an Obama aide that the former President was indulging in McCarthyism in a recent comment some took as questioning Obama’s patriotism. He was quite blunt:

“I don’t believe President Clinton was implying that,” said New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a former presidential candidate who endorsed Obama last week. “But the point here … is that the campaign has gotten too negative — too many personal attacks, too much negativity that is not resounding with the public.”

Richardson also articulated a concern that other reports said is “out there” among Superdelgates: Obama and Clinton are pounding each other while GOP likely Presidential nominee Senator John McCain is visiting Iraq, Europe and the Middle East looking Presidential

“I think it reaches a point where the leaders of the party, the voters in the Democratic Party, have to see that this bloodletting that would go between the last primary and the convention is not serving is well…”

It should be interesting to watch Richardson’s evolving role. He proved to be Mr. Potential in the primaries — the one who for months analysts suggested had potential, but it was never realized in the voting. He didn’t come across too well on television, either. But he remains one of the nation’s most respected governors and a Superdelegate. And, as this exchange shows, he isn’t afraid to respond if under attack. Will Obama use him as a campaigner or, as time goes on, as a kind of surrogate?