HispanicVista Columnists
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Raul, Raoul!
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By
Raoul Lowery Contrera
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No Mas
- By Raoul Lowery Contreras
American Hispanics are the country’s largest “minority” group, having passed by the Black community like a Jimmy Johnson-like NASCAR champion in recent years. Given that and that they voted 67% for Barack Hussein Obama, Hispanics are a key electoral factor in the coming 2012 Presidential election. Before they vote, however, let us examine the status of the American Hispanic population.
Hispanic unemployment is sky high, higher than
among non-Hispanic Whites though lower than among Blacks. Fast rising
public college tuitions in
Redneck states like
President Barack Hussein Obama promised “Hope and
change” to Hispanics and they voted for him in massive numbers.
So, it is 2011, three years after so many voted for Obama how do
Hispanics feel about him and the country now? Recent surveys indicate
that Hispanics in
Obama and his Democratic congressional
supporters, especially in the Congressional Black Caucus, believe that
Republicans are following racist traits in supporting laws that require
voters to identify themselves with a government issued identification
card with photo. Considering that so many Hispanics are in the country
illegally or came illegally years before and managed to become legal
despite myriad hurdles one would think that Hispanics would join whiny
Blacks in protesting these voter ID laws (that have been approved by the
Supreme Court) –
WRONG!
A
Yes,
Remember, 67% of voting American Hispanics voted for Obama in 2008. Now, percentages of American Hispanics larger than those that voted for Obama think the country is on the “wrong track” and take opposite positions on political issues dear to his heart.
Can he turn the Hispanic population back to an
Obama track before the 2012
election a year from now?
Can he do so by chanting “Pass the bill” on a
so-called “jobs” bill that is actually a tax bill? His own Party has
rejected the bill by ignoring it in the United States Senate through
today, a month after he revealed his “secret plan” to cut unemployment
by “creating” more public union jobs for union teachers and union
firemen.
The problem for Hispanics is that not many of them are
teachers, or firemen, or civil servants. Hispanics don’t have many civil
service jobs. They are private sector workers from picking crops in the
fields to building skyscrapers, homes and roads and bridges. They work
making hotel beds, washing dishes, serving food and stocking warehouses.
They are work smart, however. They know that Obama hasn’t lifted
a finger to help them. For example, the Dream Act to legalize children
brought here illegally when they were young failed because Obama didn’t
lift a finger to pass it when he had majorities in the House and Senate.
In fact, when it went down to defeat in the Senate it did so only
because FIVE Democrat Senators voted against it. They did not fear
retaliation by President Obama so they voted against the Hispanic
population killing a bill with bipartisan support but not an energetic
support campaign by President Obama.
American Hispanics appear to be choosing something
other than the political
We will see how and what Hispanics
choose for a future socio-political and economic path when and if the
political conventional wisdom that any Republican presidential nominee
in 2012 will choose conservative Florida Senator Marco Rubio to the
ticket comes to pass.
- His
speaking schedule is available by e-mailing him at
sdraoul@att.net