It would have been nice if Bill Richardson could have given Obama his endorsement before the contests in New Mexico and/or Texas, but considering the all-out effort that Hillary Clinton's campaign made to get his endorsement and his prior history with the Clintons, it's still significant. And it comes as Obama is enduring the toughest stretch of his campaign to date. This is a big deal, because a lot of superdelegates like Richardson are being faced with the question of whether they want to take a chance on Obama being the nominee this fall in the wake of the Jeremiah Wright controversy.
According to aides in Richardson's camp, Obama's speech on Tuesday played a significant role in his decision to endorse Obama. In a statement on why he is endorsing Obama, Richardson deals a rebuke to the efforts of the Clinton campaign to question Obama's readiness to be president:
“I believe he is the kind of once-in-a-lifetime leader that can bring our nation together and restore America’s moral leadership in the world,” Mr. Richardson said in the statement, provided by the Obama campaign early Friday morning.
“As a presidential candidate, I know full well Senator Obama’s unique moral ability to inspire the American people to confront our urgent challenges at home and abroad in a spirit of bipartisanship and reconciliation.”
[...] “[T]here is no doubt in my mind that Barack Obama has the judgment and courage we need in a commander in chief when our nation’s security is on the line. He showed this judgment by opposing the Iraq war from the start, and he has shown it during this campaign by standing up for a new era in American leadership internationally.”
Richardson's endorsement could give Obama some much-needed help swaying Hispanic voters, who thus far have been a relatively reliable voting bloc for Hillary Clinton. More importantly, it could also help Obama with superdelegates, who in the end will be the deciding factor in which candidate gets the Democratic nomination. Bill RIchardson is a big get, but there are still two much bigger endorsements that have yet to be secured: Al Gore and John Edwards. Their decisions will be monumentally important in determining who wins the big prize, and hopefully seeing Richardson take the plunge will encourage them to get off the fence.
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