"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free." - President Ronald Reagan
She is not running for president but everybody is talking about "the well formed" young woman who stole the show with a rather amazing walk on the stage. We are not sure where Julia stands on the issues but does anyone really care?
Seriously, Mexicans will vote for a new president in July. My guess is that there won't be any recounts or "LO performances" at the Zocalo. I think that the citizens of Mexico will be happy to hear that 'LO traffic jams" will remain a bad memory from that summer of 2006.
We hear that Mr Pena-Nieto will be the next president of Mexico. This is what the pundits south of the border are telling us. According to polls, Mr Pena-Nieto is up 20 points and sailing to an easy victory.
Mr Pena-Nieto is running for president at a time when most Mexicans are tired of war. At the same time, I have not heard how a President Pena-Nieto is going to "negotiate" with people who cut off heads and blow up casinos.
We wish Mexicans the best as they prepare to elect a new president. However, I have an eerie feeling that Mr Pena-Nieto will end up disappointing Mexicans because his campaign is full of slogans, cliches and very few specifics.
"What a Pena Nieto presidency would look like, however, remains
unclear......
He has offered few specifics about how he would address Mexico's
bigger problems like crime and poverty, sticking tightly to his broader
themes of change and competence as he tries to ride his commanding lead
to a victory in the July 1 elections."
As we've learned from Pres BO, unspecific slogans and cliches (i.e. "hope and change") are not a governing philosophy. They are "gimmicks" or the kind of stuff that you tell voters who want change because they are frustrated with current events.
Last, but not least, let's hope that Pres Romney and Pres Pena-Nieto sit down next year and resolve some bilateral issues, such as securing the border, expanding The Merida Plan and reviving a modern version of the "brasero" program so that people can come and work legally in the US.
Tags:A well formed young woman brings a new meaning to figures and proportions in the Mexican election To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!
We will know about the 2012 elections in 6 months. Yes, we are into the countdown to 11-6-12, or the day that Americans vote for (we pray) a new president.
It's early but some indications must very troubling for an incumbent president seeking reelection:
1) Pres BO spoke to a "half empty" auditorium on Friday. Where are the young people? They can't find work, unfortunately. We've gone from 'yes we can" to "I'm back home with my parents because there are no jobs". The young people, according to Gallup, are not dancing "the yes we can" this time around.
2) Gov Romney is ahead in the last 3 polls of voters. To be fair, it's a dead heat and within the margin of error. However, the key number is that the incumbent Pres BO is under, and has been under 50%, for quite some time. Incumbents usually lose when they are under 50%. Just ask any campaign consultant!
3) The Hispanic "apathy" has to be very concerning for the Obama reelection campaign. The Obama team has been desperately trying to scare Hispanics. They want Hispanics to buy into the "Romney will send your abuela back to Durango" narrative. Or, Romney will have the police pick up Hispanos and send them back to Jalisco. Or those terrible Republicans don't let me pass those reforms that I promised the last time around.
However, it looks like a lot of Hispanics are just turning off the Obama channel and switching to the "telenovela". I guess that a lot of Hispanics would rather watch a real fantasy than another of Pres BO's "Cinco de Mayo" speeches.
The campaign can not be happy with Hispanic registration. According to Ronald Brownstein, registration has been below expectations. He cites Antonio Gonzalez, president of the William C. Velasquez Institute, which studies Hispanic political participation:
"Concerted registration and turnout efforts from Democrats likely will
enlarge Hispanic participation in a few key states, especially
Southwestern states like Arizona and Nevada, but unless something
changes, Gonzalez predicts, “We won’t be turbocharged as a national
electorate.”
Why won't Hispanics be turbocharged this year?
Well, I am not a mind reader but a few things are apparent:
1) Too many broken promises. Too many "Cinco de Mayo" speeches instead of proposals to Congress. Again, Hispanics are not stupid.
2) Hispanics have been hit very hard by this recession.
Again, I am not a mind reader but the disillusionment with Pres BO is "muy grande".
So here we are and the countdown to November 6 is underway.
We can say this: 2012 won't be 2008. Pres BO can not run for reelection pretending that someone else has been president. He is stuck with a record, such as Friday's awful jobs report and a federal budget deficit 3 times bigger than Pres Bush. (10% of GDP is 3 times bigger than 3% of GDP)
So far, it looks like the country is open for a change! Let's see where we are in another 30 days.
Tags:The election is 6 months away and Hispanic registration is down To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!
