Sen. Barack Obama won the backing Friday of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, the nation’s top Hispanic elected official, providing an image of multiracial unity following a week where the Democratic presidential campaign has been dominated by a debate over racial division.
Richardson’s endorsement could help Obama in the 10 nominating contests between now and June, especially among Latinos, while also providing a nudge for superdelegates — party leaders and elected officials — still on the fence.
A former presidential candidate who worked in President Bill Clinton’s administration, Richardson called Obama a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our nation.” He also said it’s nearing the time for closure in the nomination fight.
“I’m not going to advise any other candidate when to get in and out,” he said. “Sen. [Hillary] Clinton, she has a right to stay in the race. But I think eventually we don’t want to go into the Democratic convention bloodied and negative.”
Richardson, a Clinton family friend, had told an audience of about 12,000 here that it was time for Democrats to “stop fighting amongst ourselves and to prepare for the tough fight we will have against John McCain in the fall.”
That was one of the strongest statements yet by a top party leader that it was time to end the bickering that has dominated the race between Obama and Clinton.
Obama, meanwhile, sought to clarify a comment he made Thursday to a Philadelphia radio station where he said his white grandmother was acting like a “typical white person” when she expressed fears after seeing blacks on the streets.
“We all harbor stereotypes,” he said. “That doesn’t make us bad people. It’s simply pointing out that, and by the way, the context in which I stated it was fear of young black men on the streets. That’s not even unique to white people.”
Obama said African-Americans have their own stereotypes. “That’s part of what was the failure of Rev. [Jeremiah] Wright’s Sunday sermons, was painting with a broad brush and assuming a set of attitudes that weren’t necessarily accurate,” he said.
Seeking to challenge suggestions that he has been less than clear about what statements made by Wright he had heard, Obama tried to clarify what he knew about what had been said in his Chicago church.
‘Was not aware’
“I was not aware that he [Wright] had made some of the most offensive statements that had been looping on the Internet and on the television news,” he said. “I wasn’t aware of the AIDS conspiracy statement, which I think is completely out of line and off the wall. I wasn’t aware of the statements about ‘God damn America.’ Those statements were not ones that I knew about until the story broke.”
Obama said he was not aware of Wright’s statements about America setting itself up for attack on Sept. 11 because of its foreign policy until Obama read about them after he announced his candidacy in 2007.
Richardson, who dropped his own presidential bid in January after a distant fourth-place showing in Iowa, said he decided a week ago to endorse Obama and his decision was reinforced by the Illinois Democrat’s speech on race this week.
“Barack Obama addressed the issue of race with the eloquence and sincerity and optimism we have come to expect of him,” he said.
Richardson said he called Hillary Clinton on Thursday to deliver his news. “Let me say, we’ve had better conversations,” he said.
The endorsement is a boost for Obama, who described the last couple of weeks as “turbulent,” following losses in Texas and Ohio primaries and controversy over remarks made by his longtime Chicago pastor.
Richardson is the 62nd superdelegate Obama has won since early February. But Richardson downplayed the importance he might have in winning others over.
“I think there are too many superdelegates,” Richardson said, a statement Obama quickly said he did not agree with when asked.
“No, of course not,” he said. “I’m happy to have the support of this superdelegate.”
Richardson was aggressively courted by both Obama and Clinton. Bill Clinton even traveled to New Mexico to watch the Super Bowl with Richardson.
Obama ‘up close’
“I was torn, legitimately, between two very strong, good candidates,” Richardson said. “I decided on this endorsement because I think he’s something special that the country needs right now, somebody who can bring the country together.”
Richardson said he had seen Obama “up close” in the presidential campaign, including at a time when he was helped by his opponent during an Iowa debate where Richardson had not been paying attention to a question.
“I’ve seen his humanity. I’ve seen his intellect,” he said. “He can serve as commander in chief. He’s got great judgment. That’s what you need in foreign policy.”
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mccormickj@tribune.com
