Sen. Hillary Clinton’s speech Monday to the Hispanic caucus of the Democratic National Convention proved to be something of a bittersweet experience for her supporters. And she still has plenty of them among the caucus. They were the people wearing Hillary buttons. The men and women with tears in their eyes as she spoke. The California delegate named Bob Archuleta who sat next to me, still mourning.
They were people like labor leader icon Dolores Huerta and Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina and sitting behind me, state Sen. Paula Sandoval and former school board member Lucia Guzman. These women need no buttons. This community, as diverse as it is, is still small and its leaders few enough that their voices are magnified.
Once the primary ended, Huerta, Molina, Sandoval and Guzman shifted their support to Obama. This is true of Hispanic voters, in general, and, by the way, “in general,” should be required after every mention of Hispanic voters. Let us stipulate here that the Latino vote is complex. Diverse group. Diverse interests. Let us state the obvious: Once you reduce any group to one of its characteristics, such as, oh, I don’t know, ethnicity, you risk straying into caricature. The Latino community is both victim and perpetrator of such oversimplification.
By a margin of two-to-one, Latinos from across the country rushed to support Clinton’s presidential bid, never looking back at the young senator from Illinois because for many in this still-clannish community “up-and-comer” is another word for “stranger.” Now, even as polls show Obama has a comfortable lead over Republican John McCain among Hispanic voters, he remains a cipher to many.
We need Clinton here, Ramona Martinez, Hispanic caucus chair of the Democratic National Committee and a Colorado superdelegate, told me recently. “We need her to send the message it’s time to move on.”
Clinton did just that. Between the shouts of Hil-la-ry! Hil-la-ry! Between the calls of “thank you,” and “I love you,” from the audience.
It was a powerful speech in which the senator reaffirmed her long ties to the Latino community and her commitment to universal health care, immigration reform and economic opportunity.
Popularity: 41% [?]
