In a sea of fascinating storylines having to do with the 2008 presidential race, I think Barack Obama\’s troubles with Latino voters has to be among the most interesting. According to some reports, Obama lost the Hispanic vote in places like California and Arizona by nearly 40 percent. Yet nobody has really provided a decent explanation as to why that might be the case. Most media reports gloss over any real reasons, because they may be afraid at what they find. In fact, by reporting that \”Hispanic voters won\’t vote for Obama\” without providing a rationale, it really stains the reputation of Latinos and brands them as bigots.

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, himself of Hispanic origin, took a weak stab at it by saying Latino voters appreciated the fact that the Clintons appointed Hispanics to cabinet positions. This, of course, is complete nonsense – if there\’s one trait that brings Americans of all nationalities together, it is a complete lack of knowledge of anything regarding cabinet appointees.

Last night, after my Obama moment, my buddy and I went to have a few beers. As is our custom, we left the bar at about 11:00 and headed to our favorite Mexican restaurant on Madison\’s west side. (Here\’s a hint – you are able to obtain a burrito as big as your head there – provided your head isn\’t freakishly large.) As we sat down to inhale our steak burritos, I happened to catch a glimpse of a \”Voz Latina\” newspaper. On the front page, there was a huge picture of Barack Obama, accompanied by this story:

Obama: Indocumentados no son responsables de problemas economicos

\”Atributir esos problemas a los inmigrantes es buscar un chivo expiatorio\”

LOS ANGELES – El precandidato democrata Barack Obama sostuvo el jueves que la desocupacion y la inseguridad economica no son generados por la presencia de indocumentadoes en el pais.

I took three years of Spanish in high school, so I can pretty much get what that is saying – Obama is reaching out to Hispanic voters by telling them illegal immigrants aren\’t the cause of America\’s economic problems. But it was bugging me that I couldn\’t understand exactly what it was saying. For all I knew, Obama made this statement about illegal immigrants, then started juggling flaming meatballs. So to figure out what the article said, I asked for help.

I walked up to the two young men at the front of the store – one was working the grill and one was working the register. I asked the guy at the register if he could read the first part of it for me \”en ingles.\” He chuckled a little, then looked at the front page of the paper that I handed him. It was clear he didn\’t speak much ingles himself. He started out, \”uhhhhhh…. inmigracion…,\” and then he stopped. He started pointing to the picture of Obama and saying \”NO, NO, NO!\” I asked him if he liked Obama, and he again said \”NO, NO, NO!\” (Of course, he may have been doing an Amy Winehouse impersonation.)

He repeatedly pointed to Obama\’s picture, and started saying \”No inmigracion.\” His buddy cooking the burritos agreed with him. He then pointed to a picture of George W. Bush on the page, and said \”Yes.\”

It didn\’t take too long to decipher what he was saying. He didn\’t like Obama because he thought Obama was too weak on immigration. These guys (who essentially admitted to us that their legal status was, um…. questionable) had come to this country and made a decent living for themselves. Now, they are all for shutting the borders down, knowing there\’s always going to be a poor Mexican worker willing to do their job for less money. And they really don\’t want the competition. That\’s why they both had such a favorable opinion of George W. Bush – his plan let them stay here, and eliminated the competition from the South.

I asked one of the guys (in my broken Spanglish) if he had any familia back in Mexico that he wants to come to the U.S. He said he did, but they can stay there as long as he sends them money. Basically, he doesn\’t want to upset the system he has going for him right now. He also said that Mexico is on the rise, and that soon all the white Americans will want to live there. He mentioned that all the Americans that do live there have really big houses, and that he doesn\’t like that.

All in all, those guys were really honest and forthright about their views on inmigracion. And they seemed ecstatic that someone would actually care what they thought. But our discussion was fascinating, in that it started to explain some of the Hispanic dislike of Obama – something the media might pick up if they would just go ask regular Latinos what they think. 

Oh, and the burrito – delicioso.

Tonight, I stood face to face with Barack Obama. 

My lefty buddies implored me to head down to the Obama rally at the Kohl Center here in Madison.  Me being the political enthusiast I am, I agreed – thinking, at the very least, I\’d get some good fodder for a blog post.

I met my buddy Barrett and his wife JJ at the coffee shop they own on Regent Street.  The plan was to walk down to the Kohl Center from there.  We had heard the line to get in was enormous, so we thought we\’d wait as long as possible to head down.  Rumor had it that speakers would begin at 8:00, so we decided to walk down at 7:30.

As we approached the corner of Park and Regent (right next to the Kohl Center), we were met by some people who said that they weren\’t letting anyone else in to the rally.  I couldn\’t believe my ears – the Kohl Center seats nearly 20,000 people.  But they said they were turned away.  One guy said he had talked to a cop who said Obama\’s caravan would be driving by that very corner soon.  The fact that the police had blocked this area off gave this guy\’s story some credibility.

Suddenly, down Regent Street, someone saw some cop cars and buses coming.  One could only guess that this was Obama\’s entourage.  I figured there would be a bunch of cars, then Obama\’s limo, with tinted windows, and the whole thing would be a lost cause.  But we waited.

A police car drove by us and took a right.  Then a large black SUV took the same right.  I looked in the passenger side back seat, and saw Obama smiling and waving.  He was ten feet from me.  He waved at me.  I waved back.

The women in our little group shrieked with delight.  Barrett\’s wife almost melted at the sight of the now-presidential frontrunner.  Previous to tonight, she had fed us a line about how she was undecided in the Democratic primary.  But it\’s pretty clear that Obama smiling at her sealed the deal.  Apparently, the leader of the free world will be chosen based not on any of his actual plans, but on the fact that he drove within ten feet of some adoring female fans.

As a counter, Barrett and I decided that we will fawn in a similar way over Hillary Clinton whenever she makes an appearance in Madison.  Imagine how ridiculous that would be – Hillary waves at me and suddenly I become putty in her hands.  Certainly the best way to pick a president.

Having been turned away from the Kohl Center, we decided to watch the speech downtown at the Old Fashioned restaurant.  It was eerie how the whole bar stopped to watch the speech – unlike anything I had seen.  I couldn\’t believe, based on the video from the speech, how many people were actually there.  I had read a press report about Obama\’s popularity that cited an attendance of 6,000 at a speech he had given in Missouri.  If he truly did fill up the Kohl Center, this speech had to triple that.  Absolutely amazing.

Barrett joked that Mike Huckabee will probably hold his first Madison campaign rally at the Old Country Buffet on East Washington.  I couldn\’t disagree.