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 Editorials | Opinions | January 2008 
Candidates Cannot Take Hispanic Vote for Granted
 Ruben Navarrette - San Diego Union Tribune
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San Diego - Addressing the 1988 Republican national convention, Gaddi Vasquez - a Hispanic supporter of George H.W. Bush - said that Hispanics shouldn't support Michael Dukakis just because he was bilingual. The Democratic nominee spoke Spanish, Vasquez said, but because of his liberal policies, "he doesn't speak our language."
Twenty years later, we're in the midst of a presidential election in which the votes of Hispanics could prove to be crucial this November.
Some of those votes might have gone to New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, the first Hispanic to run a credible campaign for president. Now that Richardson has withdrawn from the race, I asked him what advice he'd give any candidate interested in making a play for those estimated 9 million votes
Minority view
"They need to start talking to Hispanics," he said, "not like an ethnic minority, but as mainstream Americans who are part of the American Dream."
It's hard to find any candidate in either party who is speaking to Hispanics in a way that is substantive, respectful and empowering. Instead, we're served a combination plate of neglect, pandering and double-talk - with a side of chips and guacamole.
That's what Hillary Clinton offered recently to Hispanic voters while campaigning in a Mexican restaurant in Las Vegas. She was trying to make the point that, even with our differences, all Americans are connected and all their problems are connected despite the fact that "we treat them as though one is guacamole and one is chips."
Look, a white politician trying to relate to Hispanics by using Mexican food as an entree. How original.
I asked Richardson what he thought of the analogy.
"The remarks are a bit unfortunate," he said. "But with Latinos, she's always been very sensitive. This was a slip of the tongue. But it's still typical of an American mainstream view that we're defined by certain ethnic characteristics."
Food for thought
Mexican-Americans are accustomed to politicians trying to relate to them through Mexican food. In his congressional races, Lyndon Johnson went into the Hispanic enclaves of south Texas and handed out tacos and beer. Years later, President Gerald Ford tried to bond with a Hispanic audience by biting into a tamale. Too bad Ford didn't realize he had to remove the husk.
Bill Clinton loved Mexican food and consumed it in mythical proportions. During a visit to a Mexican restaurant in Tucson in the late 1990s, Clinton ate enough to sustain a family of four. The next day, there was an article in an Arizona newspaper talking about how Clinton met with black leaders and addressed Native Americans - and how, to show his affinity to Hispanics, he ate tons of Mexican food.
So what? How does that help me - or those Hispanics who hunger for respect from politicians?
We get it. Almost everyone likes Mexican food. But listen to the immigration debate and it becomes clear that not everyone likes Mexicans. And that's what those who are running for president should be talking about. Why not can the superficiality and have a mature discussion about issues that affect people's lives?
Instead, when the immigration issue came up during her visit to the restaurant in Las Vegas, Clinton went for the easy applause line. When a man shouted out that his wife was illegal, Clinton drew cheers when she declared: "No woman is illegal."
Not helpful. Clinton should have shown some tough love, and told these folks to take responsibility for their actions. No woman is illegal? What does that even mean? Surely, people do sometimes engage in unlawful activities and they have to make restitution and ask forgiveness. People will be less likely to do that if you convince them that they didn't do anything wrong.
This kinder and gentler Clinton may take getting used to. In February 2003, when she was trying to impersonate a hawk on border security, Clinton assured a couple of talk show hosts at WABC radio in New York that she was "adamantly against illegal immigrants."
Why Hillary Clinton, haven't you heard? No immigrant is illegal. Now that Clinton is running for president and in hot pursuit of the Hispanic vote, it's no wonder she wants to keep things light and pass the chips and guacamole. The contradictions - between where she is now, and where she used to be - could be hard to swallow.
Correction
In my Jan. 16 column, I wrote that New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo was speaking of U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., when, in a radio interview, he said, "You can't just shuck and jive at a press conference." A review of the transcript indicates his remark was not directed at Obama specifically.
The writer is a columnist and editorial board member of The San Diego Union Tribune. Contact him at ruben.navarrette(at)uniontrib.com. |
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