Perry Gets Lukewarm Reception From Hispanics

Rick Perry is thinking of running for president in 2012, but he might want to rethink any idea of trying to get significant votes out of the Hispanic community. Perry went to San Antonio and spoke to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, and his reception was anything but enthusiastic. Perry tried to win them over by bragging about the amount of Hispanics he has appointed to government positions (a barely adequate amount) and the "success" he has had in job creation (maintaining an 8% unemployment rate by increasing the amount of minimum wage jobs by 150%).

The conference attendees were suitably unimpressed. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that the "Hispanic leaders applauded politely after the address. A few stood, but the remainder stayed seated." It's pretty obvious they were letting Perry know they are not real happy with his performance as governor -- especially in pushing a "sanctuary city" bill and getting a Voter ID bill passed (which will impact minorities more than whites).

Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer (D-San Antonio), chairman of the Texas Mexican-American Legislative Caucus, said, "Latino voters will look at actions but not words. When Latinos scrutinize the actions that have been taken in this state, they'll look for another choice."

This doesn't speak well for Perry (or any of the extremely white selection of candidates the Republicans are offering this year -- with the exception of Cain who doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell of getting the GOP nomination). Because many expect Hispanics to turn out in record numbers for the 2012 election and cast about 12.2 million votes -- an increase of 26% over 2008 (and about 8.7% of the total vote).

And the Hispanic percentage of the national vote will just continue to grow over the next few decades. If the Republicans had any sense they would reconsider the anti-immigrant, anti-minority positions their party has reveled in taking recently. According to national census figures released recently, the majority of babies in the United States are now minorities (whereas just 10 years ago whites made up 60% of all babies).

By the middle of this century (less than 40 years) the United States population majority will be composed of minorities. And it will happen a lot faster than that in states like Texas (where a majority of school children are already composed of minorities). Unless the Republicans rethink their racist policies, they are going to find themselves becoming more marginalized with each passing decade.

And the fastest growing group in this country is the Hispanics. Ignoring them or trying to legislate them out of the political process is going to be a sure way to lose elections in the very near future.