GOP Not Serious About Hispanic Outreach

(The above cartoon was found at guanabee.com.)

After their disastrous showing in the 2012 elections (where they lost the White House by several million votes, lost seats in the Senate, and even though they retained a majority in the House, their representatives got over a million votes less than the Democratic reps), the national Republican Party took a serious look at itself. They determined that with the demographic changes happening in this country, they must reach out to the minority community. The alternative would be to see their vote total dwindle further with each passing election.

They are right. The portion of the vote made up by white voters is dropping by a couple of percentage points with each presidential election (and the Democrats get a healthy, although minority portion of that vote). But the Republicans have, in the last couple of elections, been unable to get a significant portion of the minority vote. In 2012, the Democrats got more than 70% of the votes of Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians (the three largest minority groups).

Of those three, the fastest growing group is the Hispanic group. In another generation, the growth of the Hispanic population will cause the minority population to outnumber the white population in some states very important to Republicans -- like Texas (where the minority students already outnumber whites in the state's schools). That makes it imperative for the Republicans to reach out and try to convince Hispanics that they can have a place in the Republican Party.

They started this outreach by saying the party must support immigration reform -- an issue very important to many in the Hispanic community. And the early signs are that enough Republicans in Congress may go along with immigration reform (even to the point of providing a path to citizenship -- although a rather harsh and restrictive path). But while some in the party recognize this outreach to Hispanics is necessary for the party to remain viable, there are still many in the party who do not (especially among base voters and those in Congress who play only to those racially-insensitive voters).

But even though enough Republicans may support immigration reform to get it passed (maybe), that is not enough. Hispanics must be made to feel they are welcomed, both in the party and the country as a whole. Unfortunately, there are still far too many Republicans who are unwilling to take this path. Just in the short time that Republicans have said they will reach out to Hispanics, there have been several incidents showing that will be very difficult to achieve.

The ink hadn't even dried on the Republican proposal for a Hispanic outreach, when the first blow came showing that. President Obama nominated a Hispanic, Tom Perez (head of the Justice Department Civil Rights Division), to be Labor Secretary. Mr Perez is imminently qualified for the job, but several Republicans (like Senator Grassley, Senator Sessions, and Senator Vitter) instantly came out opposing his nomination, and may well try to block his confirmation.

Then we have Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), who seems comfortable using the racially-insensitive term "wetbacks" to describe Hispanics, and so far has been unwilling to make an adequate apology for his gross insensitivity.

And finally, we have Republican right-wingers introducing "English only" bills in Congress. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) introduced this ridiculous bill in the House, and Senator Jim Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) introduced it in the Senate. This is a totally unnecessary bill, since first generation immigrants are learning English faster today than immigrants did in the past -- and almost all of the second generation are English-speakers. The unnecessary bill just seems designed to punish Hispanic immigrants.

While the national Republican leadership sees the necessity of reaching out to Hispanics, they seem to be alone in that view. Far too many in the Republican base, and the elected officials they send to Congress, are not ready for a multi-colored and multi-ethnic party. They are not ready to open their minds and adjust their policies to include issues important to Hispanics (and other minorities). Until they do, Hispanic (and minority) outreach will just be talk -- and it's going to take more than talk to woo minority voters.