Hillary, Just Get to Know Us

SAN DIEGO -- This week, Hillary Clinton took her "I'm just like you" tour to New Hampshire.

No word yet on whether she capped off her visit to the Granite State with a visit to Chipotle. On her way to Iowa, the Democratic presidential candidate created buzz when she visited the trendy Mexican-style eatery.

Perhaps Clinton was doing research for what will likely be her campaign's condescending stab at Latino outreach. We've learned that she finds it easier to think about the nation's 54 million Latinos when she's holding a burrito.

In 2008, before the Nevada primary, Clinton strolled into a Mexican restaurant in Las Vegas where -- in a feeble attempt to relate to Latino voters -- she insisted that all Americans are connected despite the fact that we divide groups "as though one is guacamole and one is chips."

These stereotypical comments showed that Clinton's knowledge of Latinos is one taco short of a combination plate. She ought to think about how she can reconnect with Latino voters.

While she probably didn't find many Latinos in Iowa or New Hampshire, she's likely to have better luck when she visits another early primary state: Nevada. There, Latinos account for 27.5 percent of the population.

Since most migrants to the United States hail from Mexico and other parts of Latin America, Latinos take the immigration debate personally. That cuts negatively for Republicans who, despite a desire to please businesses that contribute to their campaigns and need more immigrants, often wind up pandering to nativists who want fewer.

Still, Clinton isn't out of the woods. In 2008, she did well with Latinos -- outdoing Barack Obama 2-to-1 with those voters in the Democratic primaries. Much of that had to do with the enduring afterglow of the presidency of Bill Clinton, who got 72 percent of the Latino vote in his re-election in 1996. In her first run for the White House, Hillary was a largely unknown commodity.

Now she has a record to run on with Latinos. And it's not good. And, to the degree that she is tied to the Obama administration, well, that record is even worse. Her standard approach is either coldhearted or clumsy.

The coldhearted: Last summer, as tens of thousands of child refugees from Central America crossed the U.S.-Mexico border, Clinton declared that they "should be sent back" because "we have to send a clear message: 'Just because your child gets across the border, that doesn't mean the child gets to stay.'" Latino Democrats winced. Clinton later reversed course.

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