Boring, Corrupt, Richardson

Without being racist, think of a Hispanic name. Now think of the most Hispanic name you can think of. (When I do it, I come up with 'Omar Quintanilla.' If you came up with 'Jose Rodriguez,' you’re a borderline racist.) Now take that most-Hispanic name and think of its absolute opposite. I believe that no matter how you do this, you should come up with the name of Bill Richardson, governor of New Mexico, who happens to be the country’s most prominent Hispanic politician. Due to his owning the least Hispanic-sounding name on earth, the rules of identity politics dictate that Richardson must affect an accent when he says words like Latino or aburrido -- softening Ts, rolling Rs – and that he must spend too much time tanning his face in the muy caliente sun of his home state –- all this to convince voting Hispanics that he’s one of them.

But none of this makes poor Bill Richardson interesting, which is why no one paid attention when he ran for president (even though he was the most qualified candidate in the whole field), and why Obama passed him up for VP and position after position in the cabinet until he came up with Secretary of Commerce. A boring job for a boring pol. Well, he’s withdrawn from that because of a federal investigation. Turns out he’s corrupt. Yawn.