| Cross-posted from Daily Kos.
On Wednesday I had the opportunity to interview presidential candidate, New Mexico governor, and former Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson before he spoke to several hundred Dartmouth College students and other New Hampshire residents. Perhaps the most striking thing in hearing Richardson speak, one on one and before an audience, is his focus on diplomacy - quite a contrast with the current president, and one that implicitly denies legitimacy to Bush's war-as-first-resort model. I'll post more soon on this week's presidential candidate events in New Hampshire, but here you get Richardson in his own words.
On Iraq - what should happen now and what he would do as president: Democrats should unite behind one policy, which should be to deauthorize the war, to look at the Congress having authorized the war four years ago. I would have a war powers resolution deauthorizing the war, with timetables and benchmarks. I would withdraw this calendar year. The consensus seems to have been built around March of 2008, but I'd get out this year. But the Congress authorized the war and the Congress should deauthorize the war. Then, there will be a legal fight - the administration will say "well, we don't recognize the war powers act." Then you go to the Supreme Court. That's what I would do, because my sense is that every effort should be made to cut the funding, but I worry about whether we have the votes to do it. What this veto will do is President Bush will have made the war by far the number one issue in the 2008 campaign, because this veto means gridlock, deadlock. So I would proceed with a deauthorization resolution. And I was there, I was in Congress fifteen years.
The best case [right now] would be for the House and Senate to agree on the next step. That should be a complete priority, and then there should be a national effort, mobilized by the Democrats, to cut funding. That's the constitutional role of the Congress, and they should pursue that. They should have a deadline.
On his upcoming trip to North Korea: Well, my goals are to bring back some remains, because I believe that that will bring further progress to the disarmament talks with North Korea. It's a good sign if the North Koreans turn over some remains, that they're pleased with the six-party talks. This is a case where I believe politics should stop at the water's edge - when it's national security, when you're dealing with a country that has six nuclear weapons. If I can work with the administration to just improve the atmosphere by having a good visit, and bring back some remains of Americans missing from the Korean war, I will have made a contribution. That's the goal.
My ulterior goal is for the president to realize that dealing directly with North Korea makes sense and that's the reason he had progress. That now he'll be prepared to deal directly with Iran and Syria, which I think is essential for a broader Middle East agreement and for resolving the situation in Iraq and for maybe making some progress on the Palestinian issue.
On how the North Korea trip fits in his overall foreign policy experience: The point I make is that I'm the presidential candidate with the most direct foreign policy experience. I've negotiated with foreign countries, I've negotiated cease-fires, I've rescued American servicemen, I've dealt with regimes that are a problem - North Korea, Iraq, Sudan, Cuba - and I believe that I know how to protect American interests and pursue a dialogue that might lead to peace.
On energy policy: I have experience as Secretary of Energy in promoting renewable energy, which I think is the key to a new policy that I would promote, which would be an Apollo program to reduce our dependence from 65% to 10% using renewable technology, public and private investment. But I would also go on a national crusade to make the country greener. Green buildings, fuel efficiency, solar roofs in schools, more conservation, more efficient washing machines, air-conditioning, a whole push to change America's behaviors and attitudes towards energy. |
