Julian Castro helps launch national Latinos for Obama campaign
http://blog.chron.com/txpotomac/2012/04/julian-castro-helps-launch-national-latinos-for-obama-campaign/The Latinos for Obama effort was rolled out one day after the national Republican Party and GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney unveiled their Hispanic outreach program to build support.
Obama advisers, including San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, swiftly sought to contrast Obama’s position on immigration with that of Romney, who has called for stringent immigration reforms and who opposes the DREAM Act.
“Make no mistake, Mitt Romney would be the most extreme nominee the Republican Party has ever had on immigration,” Castro said during a teleconference call with reporters arranged by the Obama campaign.
Castro, a national Obama for America co-chairman, said Romney is on the wrong side of every issue of concern to the Hispanic community.
-snip-
Onward, soldiers!
= new reply since forum marked as read
He and his brother are both extremely good public servants. Both so young too. Would not surprise me if one day one of them ran for Governor.
Sorry to be a Debby Downer (and so is Forrest Wilder):
This time it was freshman J.M. Lozano, who represents a district that stretches from Kingsville to Harlingen. (Lozano’s a real piece of work. In 2010, he ousted Democratic incumbent Tara Rios Ybarra by claiming that, “[what] we have to do is get rid of all the closet Republicans from the Democratic Party.”)
Are these isolated events, or signs of realignment? Democrats have reacted by dismissing Peña and Lozano as turncoats who represent nothing more than their own fevered egos. Democrats cling to the comforting thought that Republicans are too extreme on immigration, voter ID, and spending on education and social services to gain a percentage with Latinos. The GOP, after all, unexpectedly drummed a conservative Republican, Victor Carrillo, off the Railroad Commission in favor of a white guy who knew nothing about oil and gas. The problem wasn’t that Carrillo was a no-name politician, but that he was a Spanish-surname politician in a xenophobic party. If the GOP base turns on one of its own just for being Hispanic, how can it expect to bring Latinos into the fold? Well, apariencias engañan. Appearances deceive. ...
Demographics, we are told, is destiny. But people and parties make their own destinies. For more than a decade, Texas Democrats have failed repeatedly to take advantage of the incredible potential among Latino voters. The problem is well known: Latino turnout in Texas is abysmal compared to other states. In 2008, 38 percent of Texas Latinos went to the polls. In California the turnout was 57 percent. Everyone knows this. The party’s old guard doesn’t put much time or effort into engaging and energizing potential Latino voters. Rather, its main strategy involves putting a Latino at the top of the ballot—think Tony Sanchez for governor or Rick Noriega for U.S. Senate—and hoping that Latinos will magically turn out to vote. Guess what? It doesn’t work.
http://www.texasobserver.org/forrestforthetrees/demographics-no-longer-destiny-for-democrats
The good intentions of Promesa Project aside, Latinos are unenthusiastic about Obama for much the same reasons other progressives are: He gives lip service to their issues and then doesn't fight for them. Napolitano has aggressively deported undocumented people, Obama fought for DREAM as hard as he fought for the public option... oh, well, everybody here should know the stories by now.
"We're Not as Bad as Those Other Guys!" isn't a motivational campaign slogan. Not for Latinos, not for nobody.
I agree that that is not a motivational campaign slogan. And that's not what is going to get Latinos to vote.
The one thing I think will make a difference is women. Women in Texas are probably as fed up as anyone can get in this country. And they see the economic consequences of republican rule in Texas. Education budgets slashed, women's health programs slashed. These are pocket items that may make a difference. It's their kids future and well being that may finally make a difference.
If this doesn't get the Latina woman mad as hell and voting - nothing will.
For sure!
Texas Democrats have failed to harness the great potential of Latino voters. We need to change that, but I'm not for sure how.
In Texas, in general, it is very hard to get people to participate in much of anything, with the exception of Austin. For example, OWS had good participation across the country, but in the forth largest city, Houston, had hardly any participation. With all the draconian budget cuts in our state, there were only a handful of protests.
I do have some hope with Julian Castro. I wasn't too familiar with him, so I looked him up and found an interesting article about him in the NYT:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/magazine/09Mayor-t.html?_r=1
A lot of very smart people, not all of them in Texas, see Julián Castro as the favorite to fill the leadership void. “Julián really stands out,” says Raúl Hinojosa-Ojeda, an associate professor of Chicano and global studies at U.C.L.A. “There are other talented young Hispanic politicians around, but few have his stature or national potential. He’s from San Antonio, but he’s very much admired in California. He’s like Obama — one of us, but someone who also comes out of a broader American experience.”
Castro “has all the assets to become the next favorite son,” is how John A. Garcia, a political-science professor at the University of Arizona, puts it. “He has an elite education, which has given him a national network, and a quiet, serious public persona that appeals to a lot of younger Hispanic voters,” Garcia says. “People look at him and say, ‘Finally, we have somebody who won’t screw up.’ Of course, he’s still young, and he might be too good to be true, but if I were betting on the next national Hispanic political leader, I’d bet on Julián.”
-snip-
We have a way to go, for sure. I do know we need a leader to foster enthusiasm and participation with Latinos, and Democrats in general, here in Texas.
I'm open for any suggestions and will do whatever I can to help change our state to a beautiful shade of blue. I know we can do it
