the Global Observatory

Angela Sailor, the newly controversial RNC Director of Coalitions, announced today that the GOP has hired Manny Rosales as the her Deputy for the Latino community:

I am extremely pleased to announce that Manny Rosales is joining my staff as the new deputy director of coalitions. Manny’s experience in the Hispanic community and his work with small business leaders, veterans and the catholic community will be exceptionally valuable as the RNC works to communicate our party’s principles and expand the Republican Party to more Americans…

It seems Steele may be paying heed to the importance of attracting the Hispanic community to Republican candidates. Mike Murphy in Time highlights the new reality that conservatives face:

In 1980, Latino voters cast about 2% of all votes. Last year it was 9%, and Obama won that Hispanic vote with a crushing 35-point margin. By 2030, the Latino share of the vote is likely to double. In Texas, the crucial buckle for the GOP’s Electoral College belt, the No. 1 name for new male babies — many of whom will vote one day — is Jose. (via The Hill)

Murphy points out some of the same things I had written about earlier:

Latinos need to see a quick end to the Republican congressional jihad on immigration. That shouldn’t be a hard lesson for the GOP to learn; every 2008 presidential-primary candidate who went for the cheap applause of the anti-immigration right couldn’t win even the Iowa caucus, let alone the nomination. Instead, the GOP should support practical immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship. Republicans should differentiate themselves from the left by heating up the lukewarm American melting pot with a firm insistence on learning English and a rejection of the silly excesses of identity politics. A smart GOP would be deeply in the microloan and free-English-lessons business in immigrant communities. Illegal immigrants can’t vote. Their children will.

Rosales’ job is not to change or direct policy at the RNC. His role will probably be limited to building support for Republicans among Latinos by co-opting and creating a network of conservative Hispanic activists. This job is essential and will help Republican candidates nationwide by providing, hopefully, a ready-made organization that will reach out to the broader Hispanic community. A step in the right direction, but much needs to be done.

For one, conservative Hispanics will probably vote for Republicans any way. The need, right now, is to build support among unaffiliated, moderate and independent Hispanics – mere coalitions will not win them over. A coalition builder will help with the organizational aspect, but not with the bigger issue.

The main problem is that conservatives and Republicans have not yet understood the importance of toning down, and even abandoning, their xenophobic, anti-immigration rhetoric. As I have said before, Republicans cannot expect Latinos to vote for them while they are busy passing bills to criminalize and deport large swaths of the Hispanic community and deny them access to public services. Not all illegal immigrants are criminals; not all illegal immigrants weigh down public services. They are “illegal” in the first place because they want to earn a livelihood and support their families, but the American immigration system does not provide with the immigration-related opportunities to do so in the USA, the only “rich” country close to their homeland.

The McCain-Kennedy-Bush plan sought to change this immigration mess, but Republicans sunk the bill and their own party in the 2006 and 2008 elections in doing so. A conservative like this idiotic Guzzardi fellow writes:

But Bush has moved further and further away from America’s wish to end illegal immigration and has instead embraced a disastrous policy that offers amnesty to all and would serve as an inspiration for more aliens to come to America.

This is the kind of thinking that mainstream Republicans and conservatives need to abandon and denounce if they ever want to increase their vote share among Latinos.