When will Latinos be loved enough for White House?

About 10 million of the people who voted in Tuesday’s elections across the United States were of Latin American ethnic origins – an all-time high figure in U.S. politics.

So how long will it be before a Latino runs a credible campaign for president of this country?

SOME PEOPLE WOULD argue that Bill Richardson, the governor of New Mexico (who has been a cabinet member in the Clinton presidency and also a U.S. ambassador to the United Nations), was the best qualified person who sought the presidency this year.

His resume was impressive – far outshining Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani or any of the other people with presidential delusions.

Yet his campaign fizzled in the early weeks of the 2008 primary season. A large part of that was a personality that just didn’t move anyone – Latino or not.

But with the people talking of the growing Latino population creating a steadily increasing Latino voter bloc, how long will it be before those voters can be the base that puts a Latino in the White House (leading up to the old George Lopez joke about how the first Latino president would keep the White House white, only with blue trim).

WE NEED TO take into account the growing size of the Latino population to realize it will be a political force. It is estimated that the total Latino segment will be about 130 million people by the year 2050.

As it is currently, there are significant numbers of Latino voters. In some southwestern states where Latinos make up large segments of the population (such as the 44 percent of New Mexicans who are Latino), they can overcome Anglo Republicans to win statewide offices.

The only thing holding back the current Latino population is that many of us are still of immigrant origins, or are of a young enough age that we can’t legally cast ballots yet.

But the passage of time will cause us to become a more mature population. We will be old enough. And the percentage of Latinos who are immigrant (as opposed to native born) will decline further.

EVENTUALLY, WE WILL be able to vote for “one of our own” to run the U.S. government (or in reality, to fight with the Congress over issues to try to reach a consensus).

The trick is, who will we vote for?

For the problem facing Latinos who might have delusions of getting one of us in as president once President-elect Obama completes his time in office is that there simply aren’t many Latinos currently in the higher levels of electoral politics that usually provide the candidates.

Richardson (whose mother is of Mexican descent and who himself lived in Mexico as a young child) is the only current governor of a Latin American ethnic background. And governor is the place that usually creates successful presidential candidates.

IT WAS GOVERNORS of Texas, Arkansas, California and Georgia that produced four of the last five U.S. presidents. It was the fact that she was a governor that was the only reason anybody could even come close to taking Sarah Palin of Alaska seriously as a vice-presidential candidate.

Of course, Obama is a member of the U.S. Senate, and it is possible that that august chamber of Congress could produce the first Latino president. Yet currently, we have but two Latinos in the Senate -- Ken Salazar, D-Colo. (left), and Mel Martinez, R-Fla.

There are a few members of the House of Representatives who are Latino, although they usually are of a mindset that is so locally oriented to their neighborhoods (many of which are very ethnic oriented) that it is questionable whether they could make the jump to looking at the big picture.

Could anyone take seriously the concept of “President” Luis Gutierrez, even though he does a competent job representing in Congress the Mexican- and Puerto Rican-influenced neighborhoods of the Chicago area? I can’t.

PERHAPS ONE OF the mayors of a larger city, such as Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles, could develop a large enough base and an appreciation for big picture issues to catch on.

But my point in reciting this list of a few names is to show that the current “farm system” of government entities where future presidents are being developed has some slim Latino pickings.

More people are going to have to get involved in electoral politics in order to gain the experience and exposure needed in order to have a chance of succeeding at the ordeal of a modern-day political campaign.

Which probably means that the first legitimate Latino presidential candidate is now a university student – and probably doesn’t have any appreciation of where his (or her) life is someday going to head.

ASSUMING I LIVE a full life, I might even be able to see the day when the election occurs.

There’s just one aspect to consider.

Latinos are not all alike. Take the two U.S. senators who are Latino – Salazar is a fifth-generation resident of Colorado (I’m only a third-generation resident of Chicago). Immigration is far from a personal concern of his. Martinez is a Cuban exile, which sometimes puts him into political arguments on opposite sides of the activists who like to rant about “La Raza” or who get worked up over Puerto Rican independence.

So when the day comes that a Latino runs a credible campaign, there are going to be a significant number of Latinos who won’t vote for him (or her).

-30-

EDITOR'S NOTE: It's possible that a record-high 10 million Latinos cast ballots in this year's presidential election. It is also likely (http://www.hispanicprwire.com/news.php?l=in&id=12983&cha=10) that the 2008 level will be topped many times over in presidential elections yet to come.