President Obama is up for re-election this year. Do you suppose he´ll do anything to win the white working-class vote, or the white rural vote, or the white middle class suburban vote?
Not a chance! But how about the black vote? The Obama campaign has organized “African-Americans for Obama”. You wonder why they even bother. In 2008, Obama won the black vote by 95%—4%. Does anybody really expect a significant difference in 2012?
It’s the Hispanic Vote, though, that we’re constantly told is really up for grabs and is So Important. Allegedly, Hispanics Will Decide This Election (So We’d Better Do What They Say.)
That’s a lot of baloney, as various articles published here at VDARE.COM have demonstrated. But the Main Stream Media push the idea. And so do Hispanic consultants. Many Republicans believe it and force themselves into various contortions to please the Hispanic Vote.
Obama thinks he has the Hispanic Vote, and is doing what he can to retain it. Last year, the president told the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and La Raza that he’d go around Congress if he could, in order to get an amnesty. [Obama: 'I'd like to work my way around Congress', by Byron York,The Washington Examiner, September 15, 2011] Which is basically what he’s done, by ordering an administrative amnesty.
Now the administration is going after the state of Texas which had the audacity to require photo ID for voters. Photo ID is apparently OK for Mexico, but not for Texas.
Recently, CNN breathlessly announced:
“President Barack Obama's reelection campaign launched a Spanish-language version of their website Thursday in an effort to attract highly sought after Latino voters. The site, BarackObama.com/es, features much of the same content as Obama's English website translated into Spanish, including information about social networks and the ability to give contributions to Obama's campaign.”
Obama campaign launches Spanish-language site, CNN, Jessica Yellin, February 23, 2012:
Needless to say, CNN’s Yellin has to remind us that
“Latino voters are a must-win voting bloc for the president, and the Obama campaign is increasingly working to turn up the turn-out by aggressively registering Latino voters.”
I went over there to the website Barack Obama.com en español. (You can view it here.)
In the middle of the front page is “Comida con Barack”, where by entering your email and zip code—plus $3 or whatever you can— you might win a meal with President Obama.
To the right of that, there’s a video “Apoyando Nuestros Sueños”, (Supporting our dreams). Hmm, what could that possibly be about?
Yes, sure enough, the video is about the Dream Act. It’s rather predictable. It intersperses a subtitled speech by Obama on the subject, statements by Hispanics on the subject in Spanish, and, for a contrast, statements of Mitt Romney opposing the Dream Act.
The point Obama means to show Hispanics is that he’s on their side. (Of course, the administration has already given a de facto amnesty to anybody who would be eligible for the Dream Act anyway.)
More details:
Wow, think of that. The U.S. State Department, founded in 1789 with Thomas Jefferson as its first Secretary, has now, in 2012, held its first press conference in Spanish, on March 8, 2012, in Washington, D.C. You can see the video here—it lasted 50 minutes. The text is here/English translation. Most of the reporters in attendance appear to have been from Latin America and Spain.
The briefing was given by Acting Assistant Secretary Michael Hammer, who, according to his bio “grew up in Latin America, living in Honduras, El Salvador, Colombia, Venezuela and Brazil.” He’s “fluent in Spanish and speaks French and Icelandic.”
And here’s an interesting detail. In English, Obamacare is officially known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. But the Spanish translation on Obama’s Spanish website is Ley de Cuidado de Salud a Bajo Precio which could be translated “Affordable Health Care Law”, or it could be translated simply “Low Cost Health Care Law”. So in Spanish, the title simply talks about low cost health care abut not about patient protection. Later though, I discovered that Obama’s English-language website called it about the same thing: “the Affordable Care Act”. So I guess they don’t care about patient protection in either language!
Anyway, here’s the description:
On March 23rd, 2010, President Obama approved the historic Law of Health Care at Low Price. This critical legislation made medical care more accessible for American families and individuals, and promoted transparency, which was so necessary, in the medical insurance industry.
Tell us of the impact of the Law of Health Care at Low Price on your life, or on the life of someone you know.
El 23 de marzo del 2010, el Presidente Obama aprobó la histórica Ley de Cuidado de Salud a Bajo Precio. Esta legislación crítica hizo el cuidado médico más accesible para familias e individuos estadounidenses, e impulsó la transparencia, que era tan necesaria, en la industria del seguro médico.
Cuéntanos del impacto de la Ley de Cuidado de Salud a Bajo Precio en tu vida, o en la vida de alguien conocido.
I also checked out the regular English-language Obama website. It also had the Dinner with Barack and “How the Affordable Health Care benefits you”. But I didn’t see anything on the main page about the Dream Act. So that’s a clear case of emphasizing something to Hispanics that is not emphasized to non-Hispanics.
Publicly, anyway, the Obama campaign dismisses the Republicans as competition for the Hispanic vote.
Obama pollster (and Soros associate) Sergio Bendixen has co-authored a memo, posted on BarackObama.com, entitled Republicans Seal their Fate with Hispanic Voters in 2012 (Bendixen and Gabriela Domenzain, January 30, 2012).
The point of the memo is that Obama has the Hispanic vote and to gloat about the disaster awaiting the Republicans.
Think about this. Why has the memo been released publicly? Is it not a sort of psychological warfare against the GOP?
Here’s how the memo begins:
“According to recent polls, the two leading contenders for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, may very well have already sealed the political fate of their party with the Hispanic electorate—the fastest growing voting bloc in the country. Their extreme rhetoric on immigration [AW note: sic!!] during the televised debates has rejected our history as a nation of immigrants and alienated millions of Hispanic voters nationally. …On the issues most important to Hispanic voters, Republicans are on the wrong side. The latest national Univision/Latino Decisions poll of Hispanic voters clearly indicates the weak position Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are in with Hispanic voters, and how much of an advantage Barack Obama will have over them in the general election.”
The poll revealed that Obama has much higher approval ratings among Hispanics than Romney or Gingrich, and that “When it comes to the November election, President Obama may receive the highest percentage of the Hispanic vote ever…”
Many Republicans think they can win elections nowadays just by supporting tax decreases. But, according to this document only 31% of Hispanics want to lower taxes! And, only 28% want to roll back Obamacare! And, 85% support the Dream Act.
The memo concludes with these grim words for the Republican party:
“Given the President’s current strong standing in the polls nationally with Hispanic voters, and the extreme positions and rhetoric of Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, this upcoming election could seal Republican’s fate with Hispanics not only in 2012, but for generations to come. “
Sounds rather ominous. But before we stampede the exits to go pander to La Raza, let’s consider if the GOP should really listen to Sergio Bendixen for advice.
What happens if the Republicans do all these things to please the Hispanic lobby?
Didn’t John McCain in 2008 do everything in his power to pander to Hispanics? And he lost anyway.
So will pandering to the La Raza lobby really win a bigger share of the Hispanic vote? Or could the Republicans end up failing to increase their share of the Hispanic vote—while simultaneously getting a lower percentage of the white vote, which is, after all, still the country’s largest group of voters.
Shouldn’t the GOP, as Steve Sailer has pointed out again and again, work to increase its share of the white vote?
Some people get offended or uncomfortable at any mention of “the white vote”. But why is it considered so positive to concentrate on the Hispanic vote, the black vote, etc., but not the white vote? If it´s good for the goose, it’s good for the gander.
Forget Bendixen’s “advice”. Here’s my memo to the Republican Party. I think it’s better.
How about the eventual Republican nominee, whoever he may be, pandering to Americans by running on this simple platform:
This platform would be good for the country and would be a winning strategy for the GOP. It could fire up the base, get more working class, rural and suburban whites out to vote on election day.
It’s a winning strategy. The Republican Party just needs a candidate who will take this winning strategy—and run with it!
American citizen Allan Wall (email him) moved back to the U.S.A. after many years residing in Mexico. In 2005, Allan served a tour of duty in Iraq with the Texas Army National Guard. His VDARE.COM articles are archived here; his Mexidata.info articles are archived here; his News With Views columns are archived here; and his website is here.
