(As the "bloquedista" he is, Andres "right on time" Oppenheimer wants to
drive a wedge between Obama and the Latino Community. But I've noticed
Latino politicians lining up in support of Obama, including my own U.S.
Representative, Xavier Becerra, Orange County Latina Representative
Linda Sanchez, and, most significantly, Maria Elena Durazo, leader of
the L.A. County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO. There's a separate item
about that to come next. None of this specifically mentions US policy
toward Cuba, but it's obvious now that lots of people who want change
in U.S. policy toward Cuba are supporting Obama based on his stated
opposition to the travel and remittance restrictions which target the
Cuban-American community.)
======================================================================

MIAMI HERALD

THE OPPENHEIMER REPORT
Obama's hopes will rise or fall with Latino vote
Posted on Thu, Jan. 31, 2008

http://www.miamiherald.com/418/story/400538.html

Andres Oppenheimer

aoppenheimer@...

Sen. Hillary Clinton's 2-1 win over Sen. Barack Obama among Hispanics in
Florida's primary is raising new questions over whether Obama will be able
to win the crucial Latino vote in next week's Super Tuesday primaries across
the nation.

Following the outcome of the Florida primary and a similar 2-1 Clinton win
among Latinos in the Nevada caucus, there is a widespread school of thought
in the media and in the blogosphere that Latinos will not vote for an
African-American presidential candidate because Latinos are prejudiced
against blacks.

The Clinton camp says Hillary won among Hispanics because they hold good
memories of Bill Clinton's tenure, when the economy flourished and many
Latinos improved their living standards. Clinton also has more name
recognition than Obama, and her image of a woman who went through hell to
keep her family together during her husband's sex scandals has played well
among family-oriented Latinos, Clinton aides say.

The Obama camp says Clinton's win in Florida is meaningless because he
didn't campaign in the state. Democratic candidates signed a pledge to
bypass Florida over an election-schedule dispute.

''Until now, we have focused on the early primaries, where the Latino
population was relatively small,'' says Frank Sanchez, a member of Obama's
Hispanic outreach team. ``The real effort to win Hispanics starts now.''

`LATINO PROBLEM'

But while both campaigns officially claim that ethnicity is not a factor in
the Democratic race, the recent results in Florida and Nevada -- as well as
polls in California that give Clinton a 3-1 advantage over Obama among
Hispanics -- have led to a widespread belief that Obama has a ''Latino
problem'' that goes beyond his lack of name recognition among Hispanics.

Many newspapers, including The Miami Herald, have recently referred to polls
showing lingering tensions between Hispanics and blacks. A New American
Media poll said that 44 percent of Hispanics ''are generally afraid of
African Americans'' because they identify them with high crime rates.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson, a political blogger and author of the forthcoming
book The Ethnic Presidency, wrote earlier this week that the history of the
Latino vote for black candidates bodes badly for Obama. He cites among other
examples Nevada's caucus elections earlier this month: Obama got the
endorsement of the heavily-Hispanic 60,000-member Culinary Workers Union,
but when the union's Hispanic members went to the polls, they voted for
Clinton, he argues.

''The continuing reluctance of Latino voters to back black candidates could
have a blowback effect on Obama,'' Hutchinson concluded.

DIFFERENT VIEW

Not so, says Los Angeles Times columnist Gregory Rodriguez. There are many
examples of African Americans who won thanks to a massive Latino vote,
including former Mayors Harold Washington in Chicago in 1983, Wellington
Webb in Denver in 1991 and Ron Kirk in Dallas in 1995, 1997 and 1999.

Rodriguez suggests that Clinton campaign aides are privately spreading
''misinformation'' about a Hispanic-black divide in order to ``undermine one
of Obama's central selling points: that he can build bridges and unite
Americans of all types.'''

FINAL WORD

My opinion: The Florida primary results dispute the claim that Hispanics
won't vote for a black candidate: Exit polls show that a larger percentage
of Hispanics voted for Obama (30 percent) than non-Hispanic whites (22
percent). And Obama did better than expected among Hispanics: A Miami Herald
poll a week before the election had given him 8 percent of the Hispanic
vote.

Obama does have a ''Latino problem,'' but it may have more to do with his
lack of big endorsements from Latino leaders than with his ethnicity. While
Sen. Clinton has the backing of major Latino political figures, including
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez,
Obama has enlisted only a few and less visible ones.

To win the nomination, Obama will need a big name Hispanic endorsement
before Super Tuesday.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson would be a big hit while actor/activist
Edward James Olmos and talk-show host Cristina Saralegui wouldn't hurt.

In addition, Obama should take a more courageous stand against cable
television and radio talk show anti-immigration zealots who are creating a
Hispanic-phobic atmosphere in the country.

Barring those moves, Latino voters might doom Obama's 2008 bid for the
presidency.



========================================
WALTER LIPPMANN, CubaNews
Los Angeles, California
http://www.walterlippmann.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
"Cuba - Un Paraiso bajo el bloqueo"
========================================