Latinas & the election - Presidential Edition

Being in Chicago during this primary season is, well, interesting to say the least. Everywhere I turn I see Obama signs, stickers, and you can feel the Obamania in the air. I heard of polls that said Latina/os were for him, against him...That Latina/os should not support Clinton because of this or that. My husband heard of a group for Clinton supporters called Chicas for Hillary or something like that. It was kinda funny actually. For every reason I heard that we should support Obama, I heard almost the same thing for Clinton. In the end Obama got his ass kicked by the Latina/o vote, especially in California. So it was quite a shock that when I checked in on Latina Lista on Wednesday that I saw that Obama had finally sent in his statement for her readers. I blogged in November that Clinton, Gravel, and Dodd had sent in their statements. I think that was all we got until Obama. I do know I was sitting at home waiting and waiting for more statements. It was really disappointing to see that. As I've said before, I like my senator! But not sending in a statement to a Latina-centric blog is, well, disappointing. Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez discussed how she was wooed by the Clinton campaign, but declined to endorse her because she liked Obama better. What happened when she called to use her stand in the community? She was told to volunteer at the local phone bank:

At first I thought it was a joke. After all, Toni Morrison's endorsement of Obama was being trumpeted far and wide in press releases by his team. Now, I am not - repeat NOT - comparing myself in quality or skill or fame to Toni Morrison. But I do think that among Latina writers in the United States, I am at the top of the short list of those of us who have any "fame" at all.

This isn't a slam post on Obama, but more of a critique of how he seems to be handling the Latina/o vote. I do hope that if he does pull out this nomination that we'll be courted better. Technorati tags: latinas, election, Barack Obama