In White House bid, Castro must be ready to go to war

SAN DIEGO -- Julian Castro wants to be the first Latino president.

A friend of mine for the last 15 years, Castro checks a lot of boxes on the application. A graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Law School, he's smart, capable, thoughtful and calm -- all things President Trump isn't. He has local and federal executive experience. And as he showed in both his keynote speech at the 2012 Democratic National Convention and, more recently, when he announced his candidacy a few weeks ago in San Antonio, he's got a fantastic personal narrative that makes even the most cynical believe anew in the American Dream.

Castro also has the right nemesis. The Mexican-American is vying for the chance to trade barbs with the tweeter-in-chief, who -- with apologies to Will Rogers -- never met a Latino he didn't insult. Not since the 1952 Massachusetts Senate race -- when John F. Kennedy, the great-grandson of Irish Catholic immigrants, defeated Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., whose grandfather was a virulent immigration restrictionist -- has the poetry of politics been this thick. Is this a great country or what? Latinos already know that. Just like we know that 2020 could be the Year of the Latino.

It's our turn. Latinos have handed Democrats a majority of their votes in the last 15 presidential elections, dating back to the Viva Kennedy clubs in 1960. Even when the party picked lousy candidates -- Walter Mondale in 1984, Michael Dukakis in 1988, John Kerry in 2004 -- Latinos loyally went down with the ship. And just enough Latino voters splintered off to help re-elect Ronald Reagan in 1984 (just under 40 percent) and George W. Bush in 2004 (44 percent).

And it's our time. As America's largest minority, the nation's 58 million Latinos make up 18 percent of the U.S. population. We will grow to 25 percent in the next 30 years, demographers say. We control $1.4 trillion in annual spending, and -- according to the Latino Donor Collaborative -- our $2.13 trillion GDP is larger than India's. And we're swing voters who decide elections. Three battleground states -- Colorado, Florida and Nevada -- have large Latino populations.

Nativists know those figures better than anyone, which is why they make Latinos the focal point of the immigration debate. But just who did the migrating? St. Augustine was founded in 1565, and Santa Fe in 1607. Like Native Americans, Latinos were here to greet everyone else -- with no walls.

To this day, Latinos have worked crummy jobs, started businesses, employed people, paid taxes and put up with racism, ignorance and discrimination -- both overt and subtle.

We also have a proud tradition of military service that dates to the Civil War. Shout out to Cpl. Joseph H. De Castro of the Union Army, who received the Medal of Honor for valor at Gettysburg in 1863. In all, 60 Hispanics have received that distinction. And -- don't miss this part -- in 42 of those cases, the Medal of Honor was awarded posthumously to heartbroken family members, with a salute and a folded flag "on behalf of a grateful nation."

You see, Latinos gave at the office -- and gave, and then gave some more. So, the next time you load up on talk-radio bile and feel the urge to accuse us of not assimilating or loving our country, say it to our faces.

Julian Castro knows that history. But before he can write his own chapter, he has to raise millions of dollars by convincing donors that he can win, place or show in a crowded field.

A year from now, the cattle call of what could be more than 20 candidates will winnow down to about a half dozen finalists. Anything can happen. Still, it's a safe bet that -- when those folks gather on a debate stage in Iowa or New Hampshire -- they could have names like "Biden" or "Harris" or "Warren." There may even be a "Beto."

Castro needs to make the cut. That means throwing elbows with fellow Democrats within the family -- who will do the same with him. It means letting his guard down, and telling a story, and talking straight, and explaining to voters of all colors how he could make their lives better.

My friend is used to knowing the answers on test day. Yet this is no spelling bee. Running for president is blood sport. And there are no participation trophies. It's not enough to merely be in the arena. You have to do battle, and play to win.

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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com. His daily podcast, "Navarrette Nation," is available through every podcast app.