Richardson's Out. Bye, Now.

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson withdrew his name from consideration for President-elect Obama's Commerce Secretary after it was revealed that there is an ongoing federal probe into one of his political donors. This investigation apparently preceded Obama's tapping Richardson for the commerce post, which begs the question of why Richardson chose to "not further embarrass" Obama just days before the inauguration rather than "not further embarrass" him before Obama announced his nomination.

I never thought Richardson was a good choice for the post because I believe he has no record in economic matters worthy of our current fiscal crisis. Though he did have a proven record of fumbling the Wen Ho Lee espionage case while he was Secretary of Energy under Bill Clinton.

The media laments this latest embarrassment for the incoming Obama team. But I think we should rejoice at their letting go of some dead weight now. Now if we could just do something about those cabinet picks for State, Treasury, Energy, Education, Agriculture, AG, HUD, Health & Human Services, and Labor. Then we'd be gettin' somewhere.