by Alejandro Meneses
Alex Meneses
Hispanic leaders and analysts are expressing enthusiasm over the Democratic presidential nomination of Barack Obama but maintain he has yet to win over the Latino vote.
This, they claim, will be critical for him — or John McCain — to reach the presidency.
Generally, Latino leaders hailed the nomination of the first black presidential candidate of a major party as a historic national milestone.
Obama gained the 2,118 delegates needed to clinch his party’s nomination in the Montana and South Dakota primaries June 4. Several super delegates endorsed him that day. His delegate count is 2187.5 to Hillary Clinton’s 1927.
“He will need the Hispanic vote to win. He’s going to have to work hard for it. One cannot take it for granted,” said Andrés Ramírez, vice president for Hispanic programs of the pro-Democrat think tank NDN. Most Latino support in the primaries went to Clinton. In California and New York, Latinos backed her by about a 2 to 1 margin.
Analysts stress Hispanics will be critical in November in swing states such as Colorado, Florida, Nevada and New Mexico.
Ramírez credited Obama with showing much initiative in reaching out to Hispanics. He maintained both Democratic candidates set records in Spanish-language advertising expenditures during the primaries.
The NDN hailed as “landmark” a 30-second ad Obama delivered in flawless Spanish during the Puerto Rico primary.
But Los Angeles’ La Opinión, the country’s largest Spanish-language daily, criticized his campaign for not communicating enough with the Spanish-language media.
Columnist Pilar Marrero wrote May 31, “The Barack Obama presidential campaign’s indifference to the Latino press has been a problem since the beginning of the race. The people surrounding the candidate don’t seem too aware or concerned about maintaining communication with the media that informs the Spanish-speaking community.”
La Opinión had endorsed Obama. Obama supporter Juan José Gutiérrez, director of the Los Angeles-based Latino Movement USA, concurred that until now Obama has not mobilized the Latino community as he has done with blacks and youth, proposing, “We have to start pressing right away and make sure we are visible in this campaign.”
But, he added, with what Latinos know of Obama now, they would not choose Hillary Clinton “the same way they did in the beginning.”
U.S. Rep. Luis Gutiérrez of Illinois has been a leader in rallying Hispanics and immigrants to press federal offi cials to pass immigration reform that offers legalization to the undocumented. He helped organize the massive 2006 pro-immigrant demonstrations in Chicago and elsewhere.
At a December 2007 meeting with Gutiérrez and several grassroots leaders, Obama promised, if elected president, he would push hard for immigration reform in his first year.
Gutiérrez points out that Obama stated his commitment to address the issue before Clinton did. “No more than 15 of us met with him,” he said. “Now it will be necessary for him to fi ll up a stadium of Latinos.”
The meeting convinced Gutiérrez that Obama was the right candidate. He says Obama’s goals on a wide range of issues from comprehensive immigration reform to ending the war in Iraq resonate strongly with the Latino community.
“I haven’t met a politician in my life who makes me feel that with this person things can get done, that there is sincerity, openness and originality. He’s genuine,” he said. “It’s not easy to fi nd this type of politician, especially at those political levels.”
Analyst José de la Isla explained Obama represents the political “change” that the U.S. public was demanding when they gave Democrats the majority in Congress in 2006.
He said the 2006 Latino mobilization was an expression of this call for change and a major agent that made it happen. He added the Democratic leadership, however, failed to bring about much promised reforms.
“(Obama) is the change that people were talking about,” he said. “He was very adroit, sharp in perceiving what the public was saying and the rest of the Democratic Party was not.”
Gutiérrez said Obama has offered fresh policy views on a variety of issues, including his approach to Latin America, especially as it refers to speaking, “without preconditions,” to Cuba.
Republican National Committee spokesperson Hessy Fernández said Obama’s willingness to talk to “hostile leaders” while turning his back to “friends” like Colombia through his opposition of a free trade agreement speaks to his “inexperience.”
Gutiérrez responded, “It indicates that with Barack Obama there will be a different dynamic of doing politics,” but he added that as in all politics, “there will be possibilities, but no guarantees.”
He said, “The fact that we support Senator Obama doesn’t mean we’re giving him a blank check, and that once he reaches power he can do whatever because we’ll be satisfied history was made.” Hispanic Link.
(Alex Meneses Miyashita, based in Washington, D.C.. is a correspondent with the Mexico City daily El Universal. Email: alexm377@hotmail.com). ©2008
