I’m Not The Only One

With the Oregon and Kentucky Democratic primaries behind us, only three primaries remain: Puerto Rico on June 1 and Montana and South Dakota on June 3.

Most gringos are absolutely confused about Puerto Rico’s inclusion in this primary race, mostly because they think Puerto Rico is somewhere in Mexico.

The island’s current relationship with the U.S. is an ambiguous one whose status resembles that of a colony. Puerto Ricans living on the island do not pay federal income taxes but pay Social Security and Medicaid taxes.  Anyone who believes the Clinton campaign’s lies about Latinos not willing to vote for a black person for President will find that Puerto Rican electorate will defy their misconceptions even further, especially when one recalls that Puerto Rico overwhelmingly voted for Rev. Jesse Jackson as when he ran in the Democratic Presidential Primary back in 1988.

Real Clear Politics wrote about Puerto Rico’s involvement in the 2008 Primary race, offering a lot of insight into this matter.  And for those who don’t think Puerto Rico will make a significant impact in this race, bear in mind that the island has 63 delegates, more than Montana and South Dakota combined (48).

For one thing, voter turnout is higher in Puerto Rico than in the U.S.  In the last Democratic Presidential Primary in 2004, 52 percent of the public came out to vote, and remember, this was only to vote for the Democratic nominee, not the actual U.S. President.

Second, while the National Republican and Democratic parties both have offices in Puerto Rico, they are not the center of Puerto Rican politics as they are in the U.S.  In Puerto Rico, political affiliations are centered over the island’s political status.  The island has two major political parties and two minor third parties which run candidates in local as well as island wide elections: The New Progressive Party (PNP) wants Puerto Rico to become the 51st state and the Popular Democratic Party (PPD) which advocates for Puerto Rico to maintain its status as a colony.  The other two parties are the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) which wants Puerto Rico to become an independent country and the Puerto Ricans for Puerto Rico Party which takes no position on the island’s status but rather advocates for social, economic and environmental reform.

As a result, Puerto Rican officials from the same party in the past have aligned themselves with Democratic and Republican politicians in Washington.  Puerto Rico has a Resident Commissioner, who represents the island’s interests in the U.S. Congress but has no Congressional vote.  The Commissioner must then persuade Congress members to support legislation that will benefit Puerto Rico.

Real Clear Politics reporter Jay Cost offers the following:

“For instance, the current Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico is Luis Fortuño-Burset. He is a member of the PNP and is aligned with the Republicans in Congress. From 1993 to 2001, Carlos Romero Barceló was resident commissioner. He is a member of the PNP as well, but was aligned with the Democrats during his time in Congress. So, “Republicans versus Democrats” does not have nearly the same salience in Puerto Rico as it does in the United States.”

What’s more, Puerto Rico do not need to be registered Democrats to participate in the Democratic Presidential Primary; they only need to be eligible to vote.  I think this is the biggest factor in high voter turnout.  Add the fact that Obama is already ahead in terms of popular votes and delegates, and that Puerto Rico’s governor has officially endorsed Barack Obama and is a superdelegate, and Hillary’s pipe dream is sure to go up in smoke.

Clintonistas are gambling on the connection between Puerto Rico and New York State-home to about one-third of all Americans of Puerto Rican descent and origin who do not actually live in Puerto Rico.  But I think it will take a lot more than that connection; New Yorkers or Puerto Rican descent refer to ourselves as Nuyoricans and have a distinct yet similar culture (music, dialect) to the people of Puerto Rico.  Many people in Puerto Rico are also resentful that most Nuyoricans speak Spanglish as a second language and not Spanish or rather, Puerto Rican Spanish.  And they also call Nuyoricans gringos.

In my experience visiting Puerto Rico and talking with relatives on the island I have found that most Puerto Ricans regard Nuyoricans as being lazy, arrogant, flashy, more prone to bearing children out of wedlock and more likely to be on welfare living in what most people in Puerto Rico view as a land of opportunity.  So a Senator supported by Nuyoricans may not be exactly automatically welcomed in Puerto Rico.

Even when Bill Clinton was campaigning in Puerto Rico in April, his message was not well received.  He never visited Puerto Rico in the eight years he was President, and his visit marks the first time in 45 years that any U.S. President has visited the island.  From what my sister in Puerto Rico told me, most Puerto Ricans were put off that Hillary herself did not bother to come to Puerto Rico.  In one campaign stop in Barceloneta, a small farming town in Puerto Rico, officials there did not even bother to translate Bill’s speech into Spanish.

The Washington Post covered the event in Barceloneta and added the following:

“When I say ‘presidente,’ ” the mayor said, “that means I’m talking about you.”

Clinton flashed a thumbs-up and smiled wanly, but he looked distracted during the Spanish speeches. Then he walked to the microphone, shielding his eyes against the 90-degree sun. He rattled off a thank-you list of Spanish names and mispronounced two of them.”

As about 1,000 people crowded under white awnings to escape the heat, Clinton proceeded to give a jargon-heavy speech in English about health care and energy efficiency. Nobody interpreted, and only a handful of audience members seemed to understand him. The crowd — raucous and dancing a few minutes earlier — remained mostly silent during the 10-minute speech. Some people left. Others chatted on their cellphones.”

“What is he saying? Do we clap now?” asked Jerry Nieves Rosario, a college student who speaks only Spanish. “If I had known about this, maybe I would have stayed home.”

It is reasonable to say that both Democratic candidates are about to get a crash course in Puerto Rican politics.  The Washington Post added,

“More than 80 percent of registered voters usually turn out for local elections here, and big political rallies held in stadium parking lots routinely attract more than 130,000, local politicians said. During mayoral campaigns, candidates often walk door to door while carrying boomboxes, dancing to music while meeting voters.”

The Washington Post had a quote from Kenneth McClintock, the president of the Puerto Rican Senate and Clinton-pledge superdelegate, who said:

“There’s going to be a lot of questions about the policies there. Puerto Ricans are smart voters. You can’t talk down to us. We know how democracy works. We do it better than you do, so you should follow our lead.”

This entry was posted on Friday, May 23rd, 2008 at 11:24 pm and is filed under Voting, Barack Obama, Language, Latin America, 2008 Presidential Race, Race & Ethnicity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.