LatinaLista — A lot has been written this week on this site and others about how Latinos have become disillusioned with the Democratic Party. It’s gotten to the point that the old strategies of engagement just aren’t working.
In yesterday’s post, I laid out the guidelines, if you will, of how Democrats, and most importantly, this President can reconnect with Latino voters.
Today, I got an e-mail reminder (felt more like a ruler on the knuckles) from the Democratic Policy Committee of just how much Democrats have done for the Latino constituency.
Latino Presidential Debate Watch Party (Photo: BarackObamadotcom on Flickr)
Titled Democratic Accomplishments in the 111th Congress: Honoring the Latino Community’s Call for Change , the fact sheet entailed all that Democrats have done in going to bat for Latino concerns:
Jumpstart job creation for Latinos struggling with high unemployment rates (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act);
Secure the continuation of critical safety-net programs for Latino families (Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act);
Stabilize the housing market by preventing foreclosures and improving access to home loans for Latinos (Helping Families Save Their Homes Act and Worker, Homeowership and Business Assistance Act);
Secure health care for millions of additional children (Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act);
Provide authority to the FDA to regulate the manufacture, marketing and sale of tobacco (Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act);
Help make college more affordable (Consolidated Appropriations Act); and
Protect Latinos from unfair and abusive credit card industry practices (Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act).
And while the passage of each of these actions is notable and should be applauded, the mere insertion of the word “Latino” in several of the headings, not to mention the entire listing under “Honoring the Latino Community’s Call…”, creates the impression that Latinos should feel obligated to feel grateful for what the Democrats have done on their behalf.
Yet, in all honesty, none of these actions is Latino-specific.
The passage of each of these Acts equally applies to all residents, as they should. Obviously, in these cases, what benefits one group benefits the whole.
It’s rather insulting to be told “We did this for you” when in reality, it was done because it was their job to do it — to help out families, ALL families, suffering during these times.
But even as irritating as it was to read the “Why Latinos Should be Grateful to Democrats,” it was more irritating to see that none of the specific requests made of the Democratic Party by new, young and veteran Latino voters during the presidential campaign was even mentioned.
Which sadly goes to show that the Democratic hierarchy still doesn’t get why Latino voters have lost the excitement, enthusiasm and will to respond to calls of party/presidential engagement.
Un consejo (piece of advice) to Democrats: Instead of sitting around DC talking to one another, get out in the Latino communities again and talk to people. They’ve always been ready to talk, it’s just that your party took the party elsewhere.
Comment(17)
David O. Garcia
The Democrats frighten easily it seems. Just look at the reaction after the Mass. senatorial election. Health care appears dead in the water, and the Democrats are the majority.
They are afraid of the big bad right wing middle class. If the democrats want to lose this fall then ignoring us will ensure that. Thank you for making your stand.
I will too.
Karen
Re: “A lot has been written this week on this site and others about how Latinos have become disillusioned with the Democratic Party.”
I don’t doubt that some people have become disillusioned with Obama, but the only way the Republicans can win this fall is if Latinos stay home. So expect the media to write many articles saying that Latinos will stay home in November. They want to depress the vote. Staying home this November and letting the Republicans take back the House and Senate will only be worse for us in the end.
cookie
So then white, black, asian, etc. Democrats should ask what are the Democrats doing for their particular racial/ethnic group and in fact demand special attention for their group rather than acting like Americans as a whole and put one’s genetic makeup aside?
katie
Why should any of the above actions be latino specific? This is the U. S. A. If you want or need “latino specific action”, maybe you need to go home and demand and threaten there, cause your citizenship should mean more in your country.
Benjamin
“I don’t doubt that some people have become disillusioned with Obama, but the only way the Republicans can win this fall is if Latinos stay home.”
I hope that Latinos do not stay home. It will prove that Latinos are irrelevant at a time when there is massive disenchantment with the Democrat party, and there’s a large voter turn-out. Maybe it will deflate their egotistical belief that the world now revolves around them.
Marisa Treviño
Excuse me Katie but obviously you are ignorant about how things work in Washington. There’s a reason why gun laws in this country are as liberal as they are – it’s thanks to a lobbying group called the NRA. There are countless examples of laws passed for specific groups. It’s always been the case. I am saying that the laws that were passed that the Democrat memo had inserted the word “Latino” in were not done specifically for Latinos, like laws passed for the NRA members. However, there are issues that do apply to Latinos that don’t apply to other groups and those were the campaign promises made during the presidential campaign – that’s how politics work.
cookie
Marisa, just what issues did Obama make campaign promises about that were Latino specific? I don’t get it.
Evelyn
As progressives we need to remember two things. We shouldent forget what Obama has been able to accomplish in such a short time in spite of Republicans taking a stand to obstruct every one of his ideas. When he took office this country was in a deep recession, on the brink of a depression. Our economy was frozen because of spending by Bush and the Republicans.
What was even worse is that President Obama had to work with Republicans who dont care about Americans or the economy. The only agenda they have is to see this President and his administration fail. They have shown us they have no feasible ideas that when put into play would actually work. The only way for them to be in power is for Obama to fail so they made that their agenda, their number one priority. They decided to block, obstruct, and spread lies about the president and everything he does.
They also lie about how good they have done. They refuse to take responsibility for anything and have Americans believing the deficit and the recession are all President Obama’s fault. You can read about this below.
“Defining the Second Great Depression” “Obama’s Brilliance Shows Democrats’ Incompetence to Push Their Agenda” </a
Angel
“The Nativists want Hispanics to act like white Americans but they don’t want to treat them like white Americans.”
Like what? The vast majority of Americans are not interested in a progressive agenda that would mean a transfer of wealth from the productive citizens to non-productive citizens.
In this case, nativists are ordinary U.S. citizens who happen to be the owners of this country, and in the majority. The term “Nativist” is a pejorative term that has little impact at this stage in the debate. Don’t bother with “racist” either, because we now recognize this just is just meaningless empty malice on your part. Obama’s is a progressive agenda that requires objectionably high taxes, both business and private. The Democrat agenda is failing because they know they won’t be re-elected if they pass it.
cookie
I have no desire to force anyone to act like me but it isn’t about me it is about immigrants adopting our national language and our culture while still maintaining their own language and culture if one so chooses. If they don’t want to accept our way of life then they shouldn’t come here and above all they should come here legally. If our quotas have already been met for the year then that doesn’t give them the right to crash our gates anyway. There are reasons why we cannot allow everyone in here in any numbers. That is just common sense immigration policy for any country.
Karen
Re: “Obama’s is a progressive agenda that requires objectionably high taxes, both business and private.”
There is nothing progressive about Obama. As for taxes, all he has done is let the Bush tax cuts expire. The government needs the money to pay for the war.
Evelyn
Angel you are entitled to your opinion on issues but you are not entitled to misinform without someone correcting you.
The Progressive Agenda has never ment,”a transfer of wealth from the productive citizens to non-productive citizens.” You must have progressives mixed up with some other group. The following link will explain what Progressive agenda is.
“Progressivism”
“Nativist” is not a pejorative term it is a term of opprobrium, or “the disgrace or the reproach incurred by conduct considered outrageously shameful; infamy” as the dictionary defines it.
Nativists see the term as a pejorative because they are ashamed of it’s meaning, so they call themselves patriots. However it is not described as a pejorative term in a dictionary.I might also mention that Nativists are far from being patriots. Vincent Jones, the guy that got indicted for cyberstalking is a nativist, but he definatly isn’t a patriot.
The following link is an explanation of what Nativists are. “Nativist Movement”
You mention something about “racist” being meaningless empty malice on my part. I cannot respond because your sentence seemed incoherent to me.
You go on to claim that President Obama’s agenda requires objectionably high taxes. Well that may be true for the wealthiest people in the nation, and of course they will call those taxes, “objectionably high” because they were so comfortable with all the tax cuts Bush and the Republicans gave them at the expense of our deficit and the middle class.
Facts are, under Obama 95% of Americans received tax cuts. The people who received those tax cuts make less then 250.000 a year and are considered the middle class.
The “Democrat agenda,” as you call it is failing because our legislative process is frozen. Republicans have decided to stop doing the job they were sent to Washington to do.
This has never been seen before in the history of the United States. Republicans are mad because they made a mess of this country by almost bringing on depression. That in turn cost them the election, so now they have decided to act like a 2 year old brat and throw a temper tantrum, by freezing our legislative process and voting no on everything including the bills they supported.
In order for a bill to pass in the senate their must be 60 vote majority, and for many years that worked because the losing side had morals and ethics and would compromise with the side that has the majority.
Republicans have shown us they have neither morals or ethics and this is the result. A country that has it’s legislative process frozen.
It’s a good thing the Democrats are working to change the legislative process, so that only 51 votes will be needed to pass a bill . That way our countries legislative process can began to work again.
Evelyn
cookie :
I have no desire to force anyone to act like me but it isn’t about me it is about immigrants adopting our national language and our culture while still maintaining their own language and culture if one so chooses. If they don’t want to accept our way of life then they shouldn’t come here and above all they should come here legally. If our quotas have already been met for the year then that doesn’t give them the right to crash our gates anyway. There are reasons why we cannot allow everyone in here in any numbers. That is just common sense immigration policy for any country.
~~
Cookie,this debate has nothing to do with, quotas that have been met, people crashing gates, immigrants not adopting our language and our culture, or common sense immigration policy. It has everything to do with hate.
It has every thing to do with putting out as much misinformation about immigrants as you can each time you post, so you can demonize immigrants who are mostly Hispanic, so others will join your cause because they believe you.
Every one of your talking points is a lie and can be easily debunked with credable proof, and you know it, but you repeat these lies over and over and over.
Hitler used the same tactic which I am sure you already know. He had a minister of propaganda (Joseph Gobbles), that would demonize the Jews everyday by repeating the same lies day after day. Joseph Gobbles believed that if you repeated a lie often enough it would be believed. Sadly he was right………and 7 million Jews were killed. I hope you are proud of what you are doing.
Texan123
Evelyn, it is the progressives that use hate and lies to further their agenda. You can never have a debate without respecting the opposing viewpoint. That is the meaning of debate, right? I have read many of cookie’s postings and yours as well. We all need to understand that each side has justifiable convictions. Our immigration laws are supposed to protect U.S workers. Violating the immigration laws, at the very least, shows disrespect of U.S workers and the law.
Have you ever considered the other laws that are broken by those who cross our border? Ever been a victim of identity theft? Ever had someone use your social security number to get a credit card or loan? Ever been contacted by the IRS demanding back taxes for a job you never had? What about the counterfeiters who sell the false documents for work? Isn’t this a crime to buy and sell social security numbers and green cards? What about the smugglers who get rich by victimizing illegal immigrants.
You say they just come to work and feed their families. Why then do you and other supporters insist on legal status ? Why do you only print stories about how unfair this country is to illegal immigrants when it is the immigrants themselves who put themselves in this situation?
Progressives seem to think there are infinite resources in the U.S to absorb all those who long for a better life. Those days are gone forever. It is the Federal government that created this mess and the massive debt that will destroy this country. Stop trying to confuse anger with hate. Latinos are not the only race to suffer injustice in America.
Nancy
Since every other nation deports its illegal aliens, the world must be full of Hitlers by your standards. The people of every nation reserve the right to govern who crosses their borders, even Mexico. Considering the corruption of the Mexican government, I suggest that they are closer to Nazi Germany than we are. We’ve all heard of the Mexican officials who steal everything of value from Guatemalans and Hondurans as the head north. That sounds more like Nazi Germany than our lawful enforcement of immigration laws. Latinos have nothing to be proud of when it comes to this, yet they feel so self-righteous when criticizing Americans. Such hypocrisy!
cookie
Evelyn, you keep attributing other’s posts to me? Why do you do that? I have NEVER posted any misinformation on illegal aliens. You are the one spreading misinformation about law abiding Americans being haters. Enforcing our immigration laws has nothing to do with hate. Where you come up that BS?
I haven’t used any so-called “talking points” other than saying illegals are here illegally and that is just a fact. Why do you keep attributing other’s posts to me??????????
It is despicable for you to claim that myself or anyone else who are law abiding Americans are killing people or that the issue of illegal immigration has anything to do with Hitler. Seek help for your seething hatred of white, law abiding Americans.
Evelyn
Texan123:
Have you ever considered the other laws that are broken by those who cross our border? Ever been a victim of identity theft? Ever had someone use your social security number to get a credit card or loan? Ever been contacted by the IRS demanding back taxes for a job you never had? What about the counterfeiters who sell the false documents for work? Isn’t this a crime to buy and sell social security numbers and green cards? What about the smugglers who get rich by victimizing illegal immigrants.
You say they just come to work and feed their families. Why then do you and other supporters insist on legal status ?
~~
Because of what you have posted above, and other reasons, that is a good argument to pass CIR.
When CIR is passed Non of those issues you speak of will be eliminated except the lie about immigrants whose status is illegal being to blame for most identity theft cases.
There is a big difference between a person making up SS numbers and putting them on a card to qualify for a job and a person purposely stealing someones identity to profit from it.
““Ninety percent of our ID theft cases deal with drugs,—
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