Obama picks Bill Richardson as Commerce secretary

Reporting from Washington and Chicago — President-elect Barack Obama this morning named New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson to serve as secretary of Commerce in his Cabinet, saying Richardson would be "a key member of my economic team."

Obama said Richardson's "mixture of diplomatic experience, hands-on experience as a governor, experience in the Cabinet, experience in Congress ... means he is going to be a key strategist on all the issues we work on."

Richardson, who grew up in both the U.S. and in Mexico, is a former secretary of Energy, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and congressman from New Mexico.

He addressed a news conference in Chicago in English and in Spanish, saying Obama has a vision he thinks will revitalize the American economy and restore the country's position of respect around the world.

In addition, Richardson said, "It will be a great honor to serve a president that recognizes America's diversity is its greatest strength."

Many Latino advocates had been promoting Richardson as a candidate for secretary of State, a post that Obama gave instead to his chief rival from the Democratic presidential primaries, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.

The choice of Clinton came as a blow to backers of Richardson, who served in former President Bill Clinton's Cabinet and was loyal to both Clintons before he entered the primaries to run against both Obama and the former first lady.

When Richardson later dropped out of the race, he stung the Clintons by throwing his support to Obama.

Although Richardson becomes the first Latino appointed to the Cabinet now in formation, Obama suggested the New Mexico governor won't be the last Latino to have an important position in his administration.

At the official announcement at the Chicago Hilton this morning, the president-elect took issue with the suggestion that Richardson was getting a position of lesser value.

"The notion that somehow the Commerce secretary is not going to be central to everything we do is fundamentally mistaken," Obama said.

He also suggested that Latino voters, who voted for him in large numbers in the general election, should not be disappointed with his decisions thus far.

"I've appointed about half of my Cabinet so far," Obama said. "When people look back and see the entire slate ... not only in terms of my Cabinet but in terms of White House staff, I think people are going to say this is one of the most diverse Cabinets and White House staffs of all time."