The media is making a lot of pedo about Marco Rubio delivering the right-wing response to President Obama’s State of the Union. Oh, but the media goes crazy over Rubio’s Español response.
If all he intends to do is read a direct translation of the English version, then, all he’s doing is talking to the 29% of Latinos who voted for the Republicans in 2012. And chances are that is exactly what will happen given his lack of support for a path to citizenship without the enforcement trigger.
No, instead of a legislative speech, chances are that in his Español speech he will deliver the same old right-wing talking points, “Latinos are just like the Republicans” and “Latinos are conservative.”
Yeah, tell that to the 71% who voted for President Obama. When it comes to most, if not all, issues (education, jobs/economy, health care, immigration), Latinos side with Democrats. On the hottest–abortion and marriage equality–Latinos are on the progressive side of 50/50, and that’s getting better, too.
Frankly, he has another option of telling some truths about Republicans and their racist vitriol on immigration in Spanish. Or how Republicans want to put our abuelitos and abuelitas on the street by threatening Social Security and Medicare and other benefits they have invested in as taxpayers. But does he have the cojones? Of course, without supporting policies that Latinos support, Rubio is left serving as what we all know he is for the Republicans–window dressing, lipstick on an elephant, etc.
No, Latinos will not be fooled.
Not that President Obama is doing a great job of keeping us happy. It seems he is putting more political capital into the gun debate than into CIR, and he is continuing his deportation scheme, thus, separating families and wasting local law enforcement resources. Still, Rubio and his ilk will only say something like, “Obama didn’t do anything in his first term.” And Rubio will conveniently leave out that 100% of Republicans voted against the DREAM Act in 2010.
Ultimately, Latinos will side with the ones that are barely hanging on and giving the image that they are doing something, and in this case, it is not Marco Rubio and the GOP. It won’t matter what Rubio says.
I’m looking forward to the talking heads this weekend to see how they over-analyze Marco Rubio and the Latino Republican effort. I bet they leave out facts and issues and instead promote the window dressing that votes against Latino interests.
Filed under: Sensible Immigration Reform
