Leslie Sanchez, a republican strategist has stated that Republicans should treat Hispanics as part of mainstream America.
As members of the Republican National Committee prepare to choose a party chairman this weekend, Sanchez recognizes that President Obama’s election marks the beginning of a post-partisan, post-racial America where Hispanics are no longer a minority group.
Sanchez says that Republicans need to win at least 35 percent of the Hispanic vote to win the next presidency. John McCain achieved 31 percent, George W. Bush achieved 44 percent, and Bob Dole had a dismal 21 percent. Sanchez states that politicians have long treated Hispanics as a minority group, categorizing them as all primarily poor and immigrants, often treating them as second class citizens. Treating Hispanics as a minority is not just limited to Republicans, Democrats do this as well. Although the GOP has long had anti-immigrant rhetoric, with a “We don’t want you here” image by Tom Tancredo, she says that there is promise for Hispanics in the Republican Party.
She believes that if Republicans truly want to develop a winning strategy for appealing to Hispanics, they should look at the strategies of Ronald Reagan George W. Bush, who she believes gave Hispanics an equal stake in the future of the United States; including them in the American experience.
With prior experience designing a multimillion-dollar ad strategy for the Republican National Convention to appeal to the nation’s emerging Latino electorate, Sanchez says that through Hispanic voting patterns, there was 25 percent of Hispanics who were voting Democrat on the generic presidential ballot question but would be interested in voting for a Republican who offered a campaign agenda focused on family, education and job-creation issues.
Sanchez states that President Obama catered to Hispanics on the campaign trail by treating them in a condescending manner, highlighting issues such as English as a second language and in-state tuition for undocumented students. He spoke about immigration, and highlighted minimum wage. Sanchez clarifies that these issues may not be as important to a majority of Hispanics today. The number of Hispanic-owned business Hispanics will rise to 4.3 million over the next six years, thus their political sophistication will rise consequentially. Sanchez is confident that this is a new era for Hispanics, and they should no longer be treated as a minority group.
Do you agree with Sanchez? Was Obama condescending and what do Republicans need to do?
Senator: Spanish seat-belt ads a waste of money
By Tim Hoover
The Denver Post
Posted: 01/26/2009 03:36:00 PM MST
Updated: 01/26/2009 05:08:03 PM MST
Sen. Dave Schultheis says the Colorado Department of Transportation is wasting mucho dinero by running ads in Spanish that urge drivers to buckle up.
“All these ads are going to do is provide one more assimilation off-ramp for new arrivals,” Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs, said today. “Bilingualism in our buckle-up ads — just like bilingualism in our schools — will only encourage the further balkanization of our culture, reduce the pressure on new immigrants to learn English and make it harder in the long run for immigrants to become Americans.”
The department is holding a press conference to announce the TV ad campaign, its first ever Spanish ad campaign, on Tuesday. According to agency spokeswoman Stacey Stegman, 23 percent of all fatal-accident victims last year were Latino.
And of a total 80 Latinos who died in accidents last year, 59 were unbuckled.
“It’s clear that expanded efforts are needed to increase safety-belt use within the state’s Hispanic community,” Stegman said.
The department said the ad campaign is aimed primarily at Latino men and urges them to protect themselves and their families.
Stegman said the ad cost about $15,000 to produce, and the agency hopes Spanish TV stations will run it for free.
She said CDOT got $5.3 million in federal safety funds this year to address drunken driving, seatbelt usage, aggressive driving, motorcycle safety, teen driving and child safety seats. The department spent $622,000 on seatbelt education efforts and paid advertising last year, she said.
Schultheis wondered where the accommodation of foreign languages ends.
“Can we expect a new round of PSAs from CDOT later on this year in Vietnamese, Mandarin Chinese or some other foreign language?” he asked.
Stegman replied, “If in Colorado there were the same large numbers of those populations that were unbuckled, we would do what we could to address those as well.
“Our programs are about saving lives, regardless of the race.”
Tim Hoover: 303-954-1626 or thoover@denverpost.com
Script of Spanish seat-belt public service announcement:
SPA: Tu troca, nadie la toca.
ENG: Nobody touches your truck.
SPA: ¡A tu hija mucho menos!
ENG: And your daughter no way!
SPA: ¿Y esa camiseta que costó tanto sudor conseguirla? ¡Ja! Ni se diga.
ENG: And that hard-earned soccer jersey? Ha! Don’t even think about it!
SPA: Si realmente cuidas lo que te importa, hazlo también cuando manejas.
ENG: If you really take care of what matters most, also do it when you drive.
SPA: Usa el cinturón y cuida lo que más te importa.
ENG: Use the seatbelt and take care of what matters most.
SPA: Un mensaje del Departmento de Transporte de Colorado.
ENG: A message from the Colorado Department of Transportation.
Leslie got it all wrong. As long as we continue to allow either party to treat us, Latinos, like a commodity we will never have our rightful place at the table of power and plenty. Commodities are meant to be exploited for their profit potential. Once their intended use is met then they face the prospect of diminishing returns or post-maximum utility.
The notion that we should be treated as part of ‘mainstream America,’ versus being treated as minorities, lends credence to the frame of a static, dominant culture by subconsciously granting [it] the power to decide what is ‘American.’
Such warped idea places us in a subcategory. A cultural purgatory where we are doomed to stay until we learn to be ‘good enough to be treated as Americans.’
We don’t need platitudes about being treated as part of ‘mainstream’ America (where the dominant culture absolves our essence of being). We are America. No excuses, no explanations. We need to continue to define our own American experience on our own terms.
And, another thing, stop telling us that the GOP love(d) us. Why don’t you tell them to show us how they plan to love us instead. They demonstrated to the world during the last presidential campaign and at the St. Paul convention that they are xenophobic they are to the core. They need to get on the immigration and human rights reform van wagon or shut up about outreach to Latinos.
Lastly, is going to take more than the man of ‘Steele’ to slay the xenophobic dragon that sits at the throne of the GOP. It’s going to take a miracle and lots of cash.
How about it? Anybody think Leslie is up to the task?