Slap in the face

Despite Barack Obama's recent woes as a result of the negative onslaught by the Clinton campaign and the Jeremiah Wright controversy, he picked up a key endorsement yesterday. Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico, the only hispanic governor in the United States, endorsed Obama as a "once in a lifetime leader" who can bring real change to Washington and to the country. Now this endorsement is an obvious slap in the face to Mrs. Clinton since Richardson is a long-time friend of the Clintons and had served as UN Ambassador and Energy Secretary in the Clinton administration. His support is also an indirect swipe at Clinton as a "Washngton insider" who represents the past, not the future of the party or the country. Such an endorsement also helps Obama stop some of the fallout from the Wright debacle. And, Obama picks up yet another crucial superdelegate vote in his quest for the Democrat nomination.