How Richardson affects Obama

What the loss of a cabinet nominee says about the presidential transition

So much for "No Drama Obama," said Tony Blankley in The Washington Times. The alleged corrupt conduct of several people in President-elect Barack Obama's "proximity" has rattled a once smooth transition. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's withdrawal as the next commerce secretary one step ahead of a grand jury sent an embarrassed Obama team into a fit of "classless finger-pointing."

Obama's transition team insists that Richardson wasn't entirely forthcoming about how serious the federal pay-to-play investigation was, said Heath Haussamen in the New Mexico Independent. But everyone knows that Richardson's administration has repeatedly awarded contracts to donors, "coincidentally or not." Obama just missed the warning signs.

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