Julian Castro helps launch national Latinos for Obama campaign

[PDittie]

3. Texas Observer is less enthusiastic

Sorry to be a Debby Downer (and so is Forrest Wilder):

This time it was freshman J.M. Lozano, who represents a district that stretches from Kingsville to Harlingen. (Lozano’s a real piece of work. In 2010, he ousted Democratic incumbent Tara Rios Ybarra by claiming that, “[what] we have to do is get rid of all the closet Republicans from the Democratic Party.”)

Are these isolated events, or signs of realignment? Democrats have reacted by dismissing Peña and Lozano as turncoats who represent nothing more than their own fevered egos. Democrats cling to the comforting thought that Republicans are too extreme on immigration, voter ID, and spending on education and social services to gain a percentage with Latinos. The GOP, after all, unexpectedly drummed a conservative Republican, Victor Carrillo, off the Railroad Commission in favor of a white guy who knew nothing about oil and gas. The problem wasn’t that Carrillo was a no-name politician, but that he was a Spanish-surname politician in a xenophobic party. If the GOP base turns on one of its own just for being Hispanic, how can it expect to bring Latinos into the fold? Well, apariencias engañan. Appearances deceive. ...

Demographics, we are told, is destiny. But people and parties make their own destinies. For more than a decade, Texas Democrats have failed repeatedly to take advantage of the incredible potential among Latino voters. The problem is well known: Latino turnout in Texas is abysmal compared to other states. In 2008, 38 percent of Texas Latinos went to the polls. In California the turnout was 57 percent. Everyone knows this. The party’s old guard doesn’t put much time or effort into engaging and energizing potential Latino voters. Rather, its main strategy involves putting a Latino at the top of the ballot—think Tony Sanchez for governor or Rick Noriega for U.S. Senate—and hoping that Latinos will magically turn out to vote. Guess what? It doesn’t work.

http://www.texasobserver.org/forrestforthetrees/demographics-no-longer-destiny-for-democrats

The good intentions of Promesa Project aside, Latinos are unenthusiastic about Obama for much the same reasons other progressives are: He gives lip service to their issues and then doesn't fight for them. Napolitano has aggressively deported undocumented people, Obama fought for DREAM as hard as he fought for the public option... oh, well, everybody here should know the stories by now.

"We're Not as Bad as Those Other Guys!" isn't a motivational campaign slogan. Not for Latinos, not for nobody.