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Hillary’s Latino allure

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Tagged: Barack Obama, citizenship, Hillary Clinton

My mother has always been a Clinton enthusiast, and since she passed her citizenship examination, in Spanish, two years ago, she has been eager to vote for the most powerful elected office in the world. Since Iowa, I’ve been asking her whether Barack Obama has won her over yet. The answer continues to be no, but her passion for Hillary Rodham Clinton seems to be waning. Beneath her hesitation, I sense a struggle between the appeal of Obama and a loyalty to Clinton that I am only beginning to understand.

In the Texas primary, the Latino vote again proved to be Clinton’s surest levee against the rising tide of support for Obama. This trend was clear in Nevada, where, in defiance of the Culinary Workers Union’s endorsement of her opponent, Latinos handed Clinton seven out of nine caucuses on the Las Vegas Strip. Nevada Latinos overall favored her by a whopping 38 points. The Super Tuesday contests and the Texas primary March 4 sent the same message: The Obama magic is failing to charm Latinos.”*