Clinton's Pandering Insults 'Abuelas'
SAN DIEGO -- If Hillary Clinton plans to mislead, malign and manipulate her way back into the White House, I'd appreciate it if she'd leave my grandmothers out of it.
For Latinos, our abuelas are sacred, and we'd rather not see them turned into political props. The Democratic front-runner and her campaign recently made a condescending attempt to convince Latinos that La Hillary is just like us. Or rather just like our grandmothers.
Don't go there.
The post, by Clinton staffer Paola Luisi, listed "7 things Hillary Clinton has in common with your abuela." Such as: "She worries about children everywhere." "She knows what's best." "She reads to you before bedtime."
What a fairy tale. Latino Twitter responded with contempt, immediately giving rise to the hashtag #notmyabuela.
Flash back to that wince-inducing episode during the 2008 campaign when Clinton -- out of her comfort zone before a Latino audience in Las Vegas -- quipped that their concerns were connected to those of non-Latinos despite the fact that "we treat them as though one is guacamole and one is chips."
The problem isn't that Clinton panders to Latinos. The problem is that she hasn't done the work to learn about the folks to whom she's pandering.
These thoughtless gestures feel like day-old flowers picked up at the last minute from a gas station on the way to a party. They paper over what she hasn't done to address Latino concerns -- on immigration, education, health care, police violence, etc.
Last summer, Clinton said that thousands of children fleeing death in Central America "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."
The message that Latinos got was that Clinton was either clueless or heartless, or both.
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