Freelancing diplomat now eyeing the White House

Freelancing diplomat now eyeing the White House

New Mexico's Democratic governor has bartered with some of the most notorious rulers of modern times: Iraq's Saddam Hussein, Yugoslavia's Slobodan Milosevic, Cuba's Fidel Castro, Kenya's Daniel Arap Moi, Zaire's Mobutu Sese Seko, Nigeria's Sani Abacha and most recently, Sudan's Omar al-Bashir. Richardson has compared himself to Red Adair, renowned for his ability to put out erupting oil well fires.
He has done this work on his own ambition as an influential U.S. citizen, but usually without an official imprimatur from the government. Now he is trying to use his freelance diplomacy, combined with his state executive experience, to show he has unique qualifications in his run for the presidency.
Richardson's most recent trip came last month at the request of the Save Darfur Coalition, which sent him to Sudan to try to help bring an end to the four-year-old war. The governor was persistent, straightforward, friendly and above all relentless in his determination to emerge promoting progress.
"I have good news," Richardson told al-Bashir after four days of back-to-back meetings with all sides in the conflict, including two rare hourlong sessions with the elusive president. "We are going to leave today."
Al-Bashir, who has ruled during the ethnic persecution in Darfur that has killed more than 200,000 people, laughed.
"With all that, we expect you to be the president of the United States!" he said in English, after speaking Arabic for the earlier discussions.
The exchange was classic Richardson. The gregarious governor tries to put the people he meets at ease with jokes, gestures and occasionally overeager touching.
Richardson's freelance diplomacy has gotten mixed reaction from the White House over the years.
But Michael Dukakis, the former Massachusetts governor who was the 1988 Democratic nominee for president, said Richardson's combination of foreign policy and executive experience should be an asset in the 2008 race.
Governors often make stronger presidential candidates but can suffer from criticism that they are light on foreign affairs.
"Bill's foreign policy experience is a big plus for him," Dukakis said.