This weekend Mitt Romney named his vice presidential nominee, Congressman Paul Ryan. Some in the Latino community may say that Mitt Romney has effectively written off the Latino vote with this choice — and that may be the case, especially given Ryan’s tone on the immigration issue and his opposition to programs that many in the Latino community favor.
Check out this piece on why voters of color will probably not warm up to Ryan.
Had Romney chosen someone like Marco Rubio, it might have signaled that he was making a more serious play for the Latino vote. But Rubio is still much of a regional candidate and might not have had as much influence out West and in key battle ground states. But right now, Romney’s VP selection shows us that he’s trying to solidify his conservative credentials and rally his base, which is largely white.
So where does this leave Latinos? While Latino support for President Obama is still high, many long time readers of this blog have expressed disappointment in his record, especially in regards to immigration and the record breaking deportations. Will those Latinos simply leave the presidential part of the ballot blank or will they consider voting for Romney-Ryan?
5 responses so far ↓
1 Anna // Aug 25, 2012 at 9:45 pm
You’re right that the real issue isn’t Obama vs Romney, but Obama vs staying home.
Romney figured that out, which is why he didn’t bother with Rubio. He knows that Hispanics are not going to vote for him in significant numbers, so he needs his base to turn out.
2 Arturo // Sep 16, 2012 at 9:23 am
I disagree. The selection of Ryan speaks more to the greatest problem facing our nation – the economy. Ryan knows this issue thoroughly. The economy has hurt the Hispanic community badly! Look at the situation in any latino community and tell me it hasn’t gotten worse under Obama. I for one support Romney, and Ryan!
3 Javier // Oct 11, 2012 at 12:42 am
On the contrary, their are many conservative Hispanics who own businesses. To give the inference that a Hispanic would not vote for a Republican would be an oxymoron. Then again by making this point you are making a blanket statement by assuming most Hispanics are part of the labor force and not capable of being CEO’s of a mainstream company. This would be an insult to our race, we are capable of everything that our dreams move us to be.
4 Mario // Nov 1, 2012 at 6:35 pm
Ryan and Romney are not representative sof any minority group. They are rich white men who fed on the poor. Rubio, is no representative of Latinos. He is a self serving, bigot who has sold his seoul to the Tea Party. He lied about his father and how the came here from Cuba. My Cubano compatriots in Miami ate his “media noche” and they voted him into office. A guy who never worked a hard day in his life, never served in the military and has done nothing for Florida.
As a Republican, I am sicken to see what the GOP has become. The GOP has gone from being a political party of ideas into having become a cult and gathering place for bigots, hate-mongers, religious zealots and the deranged. When your party is represented by individuals like Rob Morris, Rick Santorum, Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann, and these people have gone from being the exception to having become the norm, you have a serious problem on your hands. Republicans have allowed crazy to go mainstream in their party and there will be a political price to pay. The democrats fell asleep at the wheel when they could have done a lot of good but failed. No president deserves to be treated the way thsi one has been treated. Only reason he is black.
Arturo, Mi hermano. The economy is not controlled by a President it is mostly controlled by corporate America and how they invest.
Here is a some history to compare.
President George W. Bush’s economic performance was less than stellar. Not a “failure”, but below average. His first term was only 9th best of the last 14 full Presidential terms and his second term so far is tied for second-worst, just above Carter’s single term. As President Clinton immediately preceded George W. Bush, these two Presidents are often compared economically. By the (lagged) GDP growth numbers, their relative ranking is not all that clear, since President Bush’s first term was better than the term immediately preceding it, . Still, President Clinton averaged 3.2% real growth compared to Bush’s 2.2%. It got worst dueing his last year in office. I will grant that economic performance was generally better under Clinton than under Bush. Some of that might be luck and some might be policy. Luck, good or bad, is certainly part of it. President Clinton was lucky by inheriting an accelerating economy from Bush 41, and possibly by having Republican majorities in both houses of Congress his last six years. Bush 43 was unlucky in (1) inheriting a decelerating economy from Clinton, (2) the 9/11 attacks, (3) Hurricane Katrina and some more recent ones, and (4) a hostile Democratic opposition in Congress, especially the Senate, which could and would filibuster just about anything he favored.
There is blame on both sides and the American people should VOTE every old gizzard out of Cpaitol Hill. They are all regardless of party sefl serving communist.
Concerning policy, if you were to look only at the budgets they signed into law, you would think Clinton was a Republican and Bush a Democrat.
It’s also possible that the President just does not have than much impact on the immediate economy. After all, he’s the President of the US, not the Wizard of Oz. In the end, he is just a man behind a curtain. He can give us diplomas, but not brains. On the other hand, he can help bring about institutional changes (e.g., the federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid) that do impact the economy, but over a longer term, making it more difficult to tease the effects from the data.
Obama aquired a hand grenade without a pin when he assume office. An economy in down spin, two wars and so forth. Ryan wont do any better. If this was 1999 Obaman would be a moderate republican.
Mario
5 ramon pena // Nov 14, 2012 at 2:01 pm
I think hispanics should seriously start looking at the independence from political parties. I am an Independent in New York City and have been very active with Independent Politics. 51% of latinos are Independents and I think that is in part of the dissatisfaction that we have with both parties. I would love to talk and exchange ideas on this matter. Who is ever reading this please e-mail me and lets do some brainstorming about an issue that needs to be discussed.
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