Romney’s LA Visit & The Lameness Of Latino Voter Pitches

Mitt Romney continued his pitch to Latinos in Los Angeles yesterday and the mayor of that city, Antonio Villaraigosa held a tele-press conference to seize the moment and call foul. I think the bigger picture here is to take a look at how these candidates are, again, not offering anything substantive for Latino voters, who have been disproportionately affected by the recession when it comes to being able to either keep their jobs or find their jobs. This is what Villaraigosa had to say:

Mr. Romney is running on a record where when he was Governor, Massachusetts was 47th out of 50 in job creation in the country.  He lost manufacturing jobs at twice the national average, he was one of only six states that didn’t fully recover all the jobs lost in 2001 recession by the time he left office, and under his leadership, foreclosures in Massachusetts skyrocketed – and remember that was before the mortgage crisis meltdown.

He doesn’t exactly have a record that would give me confidence that he could turn LA or America’s economy around.

That’s not even taking into account his full support for the Paul Ryan slashing Medicare plan. If you recall, Ryan is fond of “anchor baby” logic, where someone U.S. citizens are to blame for the problems of….all U.S. citizens. But what’s more, as Latinos already have dismal rates of health insurance, this plan could only make it worse.

So, again, we come back to a place where Latino voters must seem puzzled, in the very least. The Republicans seem intent on not offering anything worthwhile to Latino voters, while President Barack Obama seems content to visit Puerto Rico and make unfulfilled promises about immigration reform. What’s a voter to do?

That’s a tough nut to crack. Some of our commenters have given up on both parties, throwing their hands in the air as it were, and saying both parties are terrible and there’s no point in voting. Others have formed the Tequila Party, working to do what they can to mobilize the Latino vote. I think the most important question to ask yourself as an American and as a Latino is, what’s important to you, what’s worth fighting for, and then go from there.

For me, the most important thing to think about for 2012 is that we have to preserve this country as a land of opportunity for all of us, because if opportunities are available only for some, it defeats the myth of the United States as a land of opportunity in the first place. So what I’m going to do is stay informed, inform you guys, and hope that by next year these politicos would have gotten their acts together and started being real with me, and you, and us.

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD