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| RUBIO: Lying in bed w/ ideologues? |
They’ll
claim that the growing Latino vote is somehow being hypocritical for not
blindly following his every whim. It is a sign, they’ll claim, of how would-be
Latino voters are being irrational in the way we think – just like they’re
claiming it is racist for Mexicans to beat on Donald Trump piñatas!
WHICH,
OF COURSE, is nonsense! But it won’t stop the kind of people who actually think
Trump is presidential material from saying something so stupid.
For
the fact is that Rubio, whose parents emigrated from Cuba just before the
Castro revolution that saw many of their countrymen flee in exile to the United
States, has pretty much ensured he’s not going to have much of the Latino vote
on his side.
Those
Latinos inclined to want to vote will go for just about anybody else but him.
Even though Republicans themselves will want to demonize Rubio for being too
pro-Latino (there is a significant segment of the GOP that thinks open
hostility toward the Latino population is the way to go).
For
Rubio this week let it be known that he’s willing to back away from his desire
to have a comprehensive immigration reform plan enacted into law before he’s
willing to see the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program come to an
end.
THAT
PROGRAM WAS the Obama Administration’s effort to ensure that people brought to
this country as children who have lived the bulk of their lives in the United States
would not face deportation just because of their parents’ uncertain immigration
status.
It
means those young people have registered, and we know exactly where to find
them. They have Obama protection.
But
because it was created by an Obama executive order, it could easily be wiped
out by a future Republican president who wishes to score political points with
the nativist crowd of our society.
Those
people who now have protection could wind up facing deportation because some
people would rather coddle to the xenophobic desires of some in our society.
AND
RUBIO, IN trying to score voter points with that segment of the electorate,
made it clear this week he’s more interested in reaching out to the nativists
rather than to the Latino population – which is supportive of the Obama efforts
because we realize too many xenophobes can’t (or don’t want to) tell the
difference between someone of Latin American ethnic origins who was born in
this country, and someone who was not.
Rubio
made his choice, just as back in 2008 when one-time immigration reform leader
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., backed away from such talk to say he favored the
nativist desires espoused by the overly-vocal part of his political party.
Now,
Rubio is going to have to live with the consequences of his choice. If he were
to become the Republican nominee for president in next year’s election cycle,
he’d wind up losing the Latino vote – and perhaps by a big margin.
The
ideologues would try to claim something irrational about it, but it really
would make sense. Why would the Latino voter bloc be supportive of someone
whose desire for ideologue votes make him act as he does?
I’M
NOT SHOCKED by Rubio’s desires. He wants to be a Republican, even though it
could be argued they really don’t want him – or anybody like him – within their
ranks.
This
may all be theoretical, since it is highly unlikely the GOP will wind up
nominating the member of the Miami Cuban exile community to be their standard bearer
for president.
Rubio
and his actions may well have just ensured he will lose the primary fight by a
lesser margin; which in his mind may justify what he has done.
Because
if he can’t even win the primary, what difference does it really make what
would happen to him in a general election fight that will never occur?
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