| On Sunday, a few bloggers from across the state talked with Governor Bill Richardson. You can find hekebelos's transcript here. Generally, I'd like to say that like Sen. Dodd, Gov. Richardson knew his stuff. The guy is no empty suit. I think the fact that our main candidates are solid on the issues is one thing of which we can be very proud.
As hekebelos mentioned, we talked about a wide variety of issues. On some issues, Governor Richardson spoke with a voice that progressive activists will take heart in. On others, well, we were not as satisfied. To start with the good, Mr. Richardson has said that he would like no residual force left in Iraq. That's good, but some of us were concerned about what exactly no residual force meant. Well, he was completely unambiguous, it means soldiers, contractors, everybody. He would leave forces in the region to respond to situations that may arise, but as for Iraq? We are just too large of a target to remain.
On the other hand, I was somewhat less comfortable with his rhetoric on taxes. To me, taxes are the price you pay for a pleasant society. I don't think the good Gov. is truly willing to publicly acknowledge that. He talks about growing the economic base rather than raising taxes. He wants to use tax incentives to encourage high wages, and good labor standards. That's all well and good, but I'm just not sure how we deal with the falling value of the dollar and our growing deficit.
More over the flip... |
| Gov. Richardson stands opposed to raising taxes for healthcare, saying we spend enough already. And on that, he might well be right. However, I think that is only true if we stop providing massive profits for the insurance industry. Personally, I don't see how we continue how we reform the insurance industry at all. Reform isn't enough, we need reconstruction from the ground up. The Gov. points out wasteful expenses and our lack of preventative care in favor of curative care. Waste is certainly a problem in the insurance model, but as to whether that alone is enough...well, let's just color me skeptical.
Would I be comfortable if Gov. Richardson is our nominee? Yes. Is he my first choice? Probably not. To tell you the truth, if he would alter his language on taxation I would be a lot more comfortable. While the Governor says he is not running for VP, I think it would be an excellent use of his strengths for any of the "first tier" candidates. |
