The presidential primary season grinds on, as does the media's campaign of ethnic vitiation against Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. Per the norm, there is a Univision connection to the divisive story.
The aforementioned article was not penned, as you may guess, by the network's most notorious racial demagogue- Jorge Ramos. "Governor Bush, Hable De Su Historia Mexicana" was authored by best-selling author, journalist, and (Univision's L.A. affiliate) KMEX-34 anchor León Krauze. The article deserves our fullest measure of attention and scrutiny, despite having outlived the presidential aspirations of its main protagonist.
"Hable" is the latest in a growing litany of thinkpieces and media appearances intended to create, solidify, and conventionalize a narrative that Cruz and Rubio are insufficiently Hispanic, unable to properly address the hopes and dreams and aspirations of America's Hispanic community, and therefore unqualified from the presidency of the United States of America. In the past, these disqualifications were limited in scope: to conservative policy in general, and to immigration policy specifically. But actual ethnic origin is now a part of the mix.
Krauze's article hews closer to Rosario Marín's ugly Bush boosterism than to Jorge Ramos' outright accusations of race-treason. There are some common elements between these aforementioned pieces, the Krauze article, and the AP article that we recently covered. There is the denunciation that the Hispanic candidates sought to build their bases of support outside the community (as opposed to the Luis Gutierrezes of the world), as well as the mention of Cruz' "lousy" Spanish.
Of course, there is also this new strain of outright Mexican supremacism that demands an actual connection with Mexico, whether by blood or familial relations. Recall the words of Marín, herself a Bush surrogate, as she made her grotesque pitch:
ROSARIO MARIN, FORMER TREASURER OF THE UNITED STATES: What an interesting question, because I’d say that there are three Hispanic candidates, and the other one is Jeb Bush. I believe that Jeb Bush holds a very special place in his heart for the entire Latino community. He doesn't just speak Spanish, but he understands. And since he is married to a Mexican, his children are also Mexican-Americans. And so, I can tell you...Ted Cruz has been truly, he’s very discouraging. I am hurt by the positions he has taken. Marco Rubio is a politician with tremendous aspirations. I love him, I respect him. His shifting positions on immigration leave much to be desired. The one who has not changed is Jeb Bush. And frankly, I believe, in my heart, that he is more Latino than any of the others out there. And that is why I am supporting him.
Krause's Mexican supremacism, unlike Marín's crude othering, is florid, elegant, and beautifully constructed, couched in the reasonable presentation of polling data and demographic concern trolling:
Rubio and Cruz’s experience as Latino immigrants will surely be of some help with the Hispanic vote. But the Hispanic community is far from monolithic, and the senators’ experience as Cuban-Americans, at least according to a deep-analysis poll’s results in their home states, seems to resonate more clearly with Hispanics of Cuban and Puerto Rican descent than with, say, Mexican-Americans, who will represent more than half of the Hispanic vote in the general election. The Cuban-American community, whose similarities to the Mexican-American community don’t extend far beyond the Spanish language, makes up only seven per cent of the Hispanic electorate. Given this, might there be a better option and a more electorally attractive biography? In fact, there could be—Jeb Bush.
The highlighted sentence above is absolutely fascinating because Krause simultaneously negates and affirms the notion of a Hispanic monolith by suggesting that the minority Hispanic candidates are insufficiently capable of catering to the demands of the Mexican-American majority. Cruz and Rubio are naturally more attuned to the Cuban-American and Puerto Rican populations, charges Krause (unaware that this particular segment of the population is mostly concentrated in the most consequential swing state-thus rendering it the most consequential Hispanic vote in the 2016 election), and only Jeb Bush presents the right combination of ethnic makeup and policy preference. Again, this is an echo (more beautifully presented, but still an echo) of Marín's points.
Unfortunately, for Krauze, the mystery will remain unsolved as Bush suspended his campaign after a dissapointing showing in South Carolina. But the rest of us get a taste both of what's ahead, and of the sort of hosannas that await Julián Castro should he find his way to the Democratic ticket.
