Obama picks Richardson for Commerce

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson waves at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Aug. 28, 2008. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson, File)

by Frank James

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson will be named President-elect Barack Obama's Commerce Secretary at a Chicago press conference tomorrow.

Richardson will become the first Hispanic named to Obama's cabinet. It will be Richardson's third go round in a presidential cabinet. The 61-year old was both United Nations ambassador and Energy Secretary during the Clinton administration.

Many political observers had expected Richardson to be named the nation's first Hispanic Secretary of State. Many Hispanics had expected as much too, as a reward for their strong support for Obama on Election Day.

Richardson's experience at the UN and his proven skills negotiating with dictatorial regimes, for instance, North Korea, made him appear to be a real contender. The notion that Richardson wind up at State grew even stronger when he dropped out of the Democratic presidential primary and threw his support to Obama, angering many Clinton supporters in the process. After all that, it appeared that Obama would owe him something major.

But when it became clear that Sen. Hillary Clinton was Obama's choice for top U.S. envoy, the word went out that Richardson was likely to be at Commerce.

Commerce doesn't have the prestige of State. But it has very nice perks. The Commerce Secretary has one of the better physical offices in the Executive Branch, a huge space with a working fireplace and a large fish tank maintained by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a Commerce agency.

And Commerce secretaries still travel the world, helping to drum up business for U.S. companies. So Richardson will still get to travel the world on behalf of U.S. taxpayers.