I reside in Las Vegas, and I intend to caucus tomorrow. As an informed Latina voter, it has taken me a long time to decide whom to support but tomorrow I will enthusiastically support Obama.
Yesterday, I attended the Obama town hall meeting held at Rancho High School. The large gymnasium was packed, and it drew a multicultural, multi-generational, mixed class status crowd. As I waited in line with hundreds of others, a Latino union worker with his two young children was interviewed by a local newspaper. I assumed he was singled out because he is Latino and because he looked working class. The reporter asked him whether the Union’s endorsement swayed him to vote for Obama. I was proud of his response. “No, not really,” he said. “I have been paying attention to the candidates, and I like what Obama has to say about health care and education,” he retorted. Besides, he said, turning to his 12 year-old son, my son more than anyone has influenced me because he is excited about Obama.” The reported then turned to the young boy and asked him why he supported Obama, and the young man beamed with pride and said, “most of my classmates support Hillary but I like Obama because I believe that he wants change so that kids can have a better education and better health.”
Latinos voters as well as Black voters have received a great deal of media attention of late in terms of their voter preference. The New York Times reported somehow that Latinos have a hard time supporting Obama because he is Black, while Black voters are said to be divided because he is not Black enough. But I have greater faith that voters of color listen to issues. In fact, I had come to the town hall meeting because a young Latina UNLV student, Evelyn Flores, who had led the student movement organizing the immigration Marches, was there to introduce Obama. Evelyn was working his campaign, as were many more Latino youths who had organized the Marches. These youths believe that the immigration issue is a human rights or a civil rights issue, and they are demanding of their politicians. But they had been inspired by Obama, so much so, that they had also joined his campaign.
So I came because I wanted to be inspired by Obama and to have hope. I had no question that Obama spoke to the important issues already that most voters care about, including myself: Health care, the war in Iraq, Education, and the environment. I was less clear, however, on what distinguished him or whether I could really trust him to move beyond the rhetoric while in office. I also wondered whether he would be brave in addressing the more polarizing issues, including the immigration debate or Guantanamo Bay, and torture. These are not issues that affect everyone, and those affected tend to be more racialized, more marginalized, more vilified. What did Obama have to say about that, I wondered?
So I am an academic and generally not in the “mainstream,” in terms of my demands for change. This means I am not easily impressed. But I walked away with greater conviction about Obama last night. What gave me that? A couple of things. First, Obama, with his great oratory skills, as he had the crowd screaming in support as he spoke about the need to pay higher teacher salaries, get rid of standardized testing, provide health insurance to all, etc., issues that even the words orator can still get a cheer from an audience, also spoke some truths that are harder to say. A few that I recall: he talked about the need to tax income beyond the cut off of $97,000, pointing out that only 3% of Nevadans fall in this group, which is not the middle class. Apparently, his tax plan was criticized by Hillary to mean that he wanted to raise taxes for the middle class. But he said other things that impressed me, and one that did not get as much cheer. For instance, he spoke about the need to protect the border, but not without offering a dignified path to legalization to those who reside and toil in the US. Having had breakfast earlier with one of his committee advisers on issues of national security and immigration, I had greater hope that he was serious about this and more nuanced than the last very compromised immigration reform bill attempted to do. Besides, he supported driver’s licenses for the undocumented in his home state of Illinois because beyond the rhetoric of punishing the immigrant for his “illegality,” he recognizes the human rights dimensions of the issue. He talked about the embarrassment of Guantamano Bay and the need to shut it down. He called what we are doing when we interrogate the detainees by its rightful name: Torture. These things impressed even me.
What also impressed me about Obama is his ability to lead. He has inspired many young voters, for example, to hope and to participate in change. I kind of like the idea of a fresh start in Washington, which does not mean no experience. Obama has been governor, and he is now in the senate. I mean someone who is not “too compromised” by the interests that have governed Washington for too long. I want to have that hope, and I must because change will not be easy.
Raquel Aldana
Professor of Law
