After the 2012 Election results we can confirm that the G.O.P. kept the House, did not capture the Senate and lost the White House. Within the G.O.P. debate is going in all different directions as to why Governor Mitt Romney lost. The reasons such as being out of touch with the people to not being aggressive enough on President Obama. Yet one of the main reasons for Governor Mitt Romney losing the White House bid was his lack of connection with advocacy for Latino voters, which he only managed to get 27% of the vote.
Yes I know there was a Juntos Con Romney group on Facebook to get Latino voters out for Governor Romney but that means very little (just for the record I did “like” the group on Facebook). Governor Romney should have made a better connection with Latinos by opening the conversation with a positive immigration reform and not with “self-deportation” rhetoric talk.
As Congressman Luis Guitierez (D-IL) stated in the O’Reilly Factor a few days ago “you cannot open the conversation about comprehensive immigration reform with self-deportation”, which is true because it scares away many Latino voters. Governor Romney wanted to tackle the immigration issue in his first term, which he made clear during the debates, and I am sure he would have done so if he had been elected but the “self-deportation” argument really did hurt his chances of winning the Latino vote. Even well known Latino advocates such Governor Susana Martinez from New Mexico and Governor Jeb Bush criticized Governor Romney about his “self-deportation” rhetoric.
Although President Obama failed to deliver on comprehensive immigration reform in his first term when he promised to do so in his 2008 campaign 71% voted for President Obama. The G.O.P. must listen and acknowledge the power of the Latino vote. Also the GOP must open up about comprehensive immigration reform in an open manner and not start the conversation with “self-deportation” rhetoric.
The Latino vote will play a big role again in the 2016 Presidential Election and this time the G.O.P. must embrace capture the Latino vote. I do agree that we need to fix the immigration laws but the conversations must be opened in a respectful manner and with logical reasonable solutions. If the G.O.P from now until the 2016 President election can work out an comprehensive immigration reform bill for all immigrants than I could see a drastic shift in the Latino vote going for the G.O.P in 2016. That is of course if the 2016 Republican candidate for the White House is a viable candidate and reaches out to the Latino community.
Frustrated about the lack of outreach for Latino voters also comes from former U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, in which he has already started a Super PAC (Political Action Committee) “Republicans for Immigration Reform” to make the outreach to Latino voters.
This super P.A.C. is a step forward in the right direction towards gathering more Latino support for the G.O.P. I myself am willing to assist with a bi-partisan comprehensive immigration reform bill whether it is at the state and/or national level to help out in reaching out to the Latino community and assist with research on a possible immigration comprehensive reform should the G.O.P and Democrats set one forth in the upcoming months. Are you willing to assist in the cause? Or will you just stand in the sidelines and do nothing?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jose Fulgencio is currently a Lecturer in the Political Science Department at Oklahoma State University, a graduate student finishing up my M.S. in Entrepreneurship (May 2013) and in the process of launching my third business venture (details to come at a later date) with the guidance of the School of Entrepreneurship faculty at Oklahoma State University.
Follow me at @josefulgencio51 or email info@josefulgencio.com
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