McCain and Obama Compete to Capture the Hispanic Vote

The candidates for President of the United States, Barack Obama and John McCain, had a match-up this Monday for the Hispanic vote, disputing who is the most committed to the minority group and migration reform.

Both gave speeches during the 79th convention of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) in a meeting dominated by Democrats that, judging by a more festive atmosphere, favored Obama.

The second of three Hispanic forums to which the two have been invited gave a clear signal to the importance of the Hispanic vote in these elections. Obama and McCain offered different visions, in tone and content, of how to reactivate the economy, and defended their positions on immigration, two dominant issues in the election.

In a speech of unmistakable populist woo, Obama assured that the United States needs a government that “functions for all Americans,” not only for a few. As an example, he said, “When a Hispanic does not graduate, it is not a Hispanic problem, it is an American problem.”

He also emphasized the problems of illegal immigration, unemployment that disproportionately affects Hispanics, and the scarcity of medical coverage, among other issues. “We need a President that will not abandon something as important as comprehensive (immigration) reform when it is politically unpopular,” added Obama, reiterating his promise to make it his “top priority” during his first year in office if he wins in November.

Obama, who is leading in opinion polls against McCain, received a loud ovation for calling out, “Sí se puede!” which the close to one thousand attendees repeated as a cry of agreement on at least two occasions. In fact, his speech in the afternoon attracted more people than McCain, and they had to be accommodated with more tables and chairs in the conference room of the hotel where the convention was held.

McCain, who has won four elections in the Senate, thanks in part to Latino support, insisted that border security is primary compared to possible migration reform, a position that has penalized him with jeers in other auditoriums.

To the Americans: “We should demonstrate to them that we can and we will secure our borders first, at the same time that we respect the dignity and the rights of the citizens and the legal residents,” McCain said in his speech of approximately a half hour.

Obama and McCain share, to a great extent, the same outlook as to what to do with the presence of some twelve million undocumented people in the United States. McCain’s campaign distributed a leaflet that highlights Obama’s support for five “venomous” amendments that buried migration reform in 2007. In defense of small companies, McCain proposed reducing from 35% to 25% the tax contributions from businesses, at the same time that he said to reject “the false virtues of economic isolation.”

McCain returned from a recent tour to Colombia and Mexico, and although he defended freedom of commerce as a tool to create employment, he did not mention the Colombia Free Trade Agreement pending in the Legislature. He did align himself with those who have been displaced by foreign commerce, supporting an “exhaustive” reform of unemployment and capitalization programs for these workers.

It is calculated that at least nine million Hispanics will go to the voting booths in November, compared with the 5.6 million who voted in 2006. Obama has been gaining the support of more Hispanics, which represent 15% of the population, since his democratic rival, Senator Hillary Clinton, left the contention.

It is an advantage that will not be easily lost, according to an EFE interview with the mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, who assured that Obama “has never changed over the issue of immigration.” In this forum, McCain offered a vigorous defense of his program to stabilize the most pressing economic and social problems in the country, and indicated how a lack of American confidence in the government’s ability to safeguard the borders partly explains the failure of the immigration reform plan. Therefore, he said, we must first regain confidence and strengthen border surveillance.