Perry and Latinos

A couple of weeks ago in Las Vegas there was a Latino Decisions poll that asked 600 Hispanic registered voters from more than 20 states what their impressions were of the GOP candidates.  As a whole, the Latino community was not favorable of the GOP candidates.  As for rick Perry, the poll showed that 39% of these voters had an unfavorable impression of him while only 22% had a favorable impression of him. 

We can get a better understanding of this from a Guest column in The Texas Tribune entitled Why Rick Perry is Bad for Hispanics, written by state representative, Rafael Anchia.  In the article, Anchia writes about the poor reception that Perry received at an Annual Conference of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.  Although Perry was said to have been in a “jovial mood”, his jokes were not taken in a laughing matter.  Rick Perry speaks of Hispanics in a positive way pretending like they should be favorable of him because of some of his particular stances.  However, his record on such issues has let down many Latinos and they seem to have not forgotten about these.  As is well known, Latinos are concerned on educational access.  Latinos look at educational for their children as the opportunity that will allow for success in their community.  In Texas, there are 4.9 million children enrolled in public school, of which more than 50% are Hispanic.  However, in this past year Perry pushed for a cuts-only budget that took away $5 billion from public schools that were already under-funded.  Anchia also speaks of the $250 that Perry took away from pre-K schools.  This is obviously decreasing the investment in Texas’s human capital.  This also happens to be an issue that Hispanics are highly involved in and one that they care a lot about.   Coming from Texas, Perry seems to think that Hispanics may be on his side, but in order for that to happen, I think he needs to create some promise on issues that Hispanics care about, such as education.  With the rapidly growing number of Hispanics in the U.S., we will continue to see an increased amount of attention on the political issues that concern this community.  It will be very hard for a candidate to win in this country without favoring Latinos.       

Polls-http://www.fronterasdesk.org/news/2011/oct/18/republican-caucus-democrat-election-2012/

Article-http://www.texastribune.org/texas-politics/2012-presidential-election/guest-column-why-rick-perry-bad-hispanics/

Rick Perry Against African Americans

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/rick-perry-needs-the-help/2011/03/04/gIQAIUDDaL_blog.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZHQJHYgsFI

Many years have passed since the days of Martin Luther King Jr., but African Americans still feel disadvantaged in certain political issues.  Today, African Americans in general are concerned about inadequate health care, and institutional discrimination in housing, education, employment, criminal justice, and civil rights.  As for Rick Perry, he is not the most liked candidate by African Americans as a whole.  It has been an uphill battle for Rick Perry with regard to gaining the support of African Americans.  As Jonathan Capehart’s article in the Washington Post describes, Rick Perry’s family is said to have leased a property for years that is known as “Niggerhead”.  The name of this property is obviously involves a word many African Americans are sensitive towards.  Rick Perry’s involvement with this property has resulted in him being called very insensitive towards the African American community.  Perry’s involvement in with this property probably isn’t the best thing he could’ve done to gain African American support. 

There is another issue for which Perry has been criticized for his insensitivity towards African Americans.  In the youtube clip from Hardball, Perry is asked about the importance of the civil rights movement.  In the clip, Perry compares the civil rights struggle to the struggle of republicans for corporate tax rates.   These may be two issues  one for African Americans and one for Republicans, but it doesn’t take a political genius to realize that these issues are of different magnitudes for the two groups and not quite comparable.  Once again, Perry is seen as insensitive towards the African American community’s struggle for civil rights.  In addition, when Perry executed the Texas Miracle in job creation, he neglected the minorities and the poor. Rick Perry seems to have realized that he is not going to win over the African American community’s support.  However, in doing so, he is showing much insensitivity towards the African American community.  

Early Signs of Desperation?

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/08/politics/perry-response-mormonism/

The recent polls for the 2012 Republican Presidential Nomination indicate that Governor Perry is falling behind Mit Romney and Herman Cain.  According to the latest polls, Romney has 21.8% of the support, Cain has 16.2%, and Perry has 15.8%.  The rest of the candidates are in the single digits.  Most polls show this pattern, but ABC News does have Perry and Cain tied.  Perry’s latest speeches and debates have not helped his cause, but what is making the biggest headlines in his party is something that he didn’t even say. 

The Senior Pastor of the First Baptist Church in Dallas, Reverend Robert Jeffress introduced Governor Perry this last week, but the introduction was quite controversial.  Jeffress made some harsh comments on Mit Romney and his religion, saying that Mormonism is a cult.  As the leading candidate, Romney does have the target on his back.  The other candidates are taking shots at him left and right.  However, here, Jeffress may have crossed the line.  Trying to come from behind, Perry’s party is trying to use whatever strategy available.  Perry knows as much as we do that being a Protestant Christian helps his chances significantly and being a Mormon, in Romney’s case, can be a disadvantage.  Perry’s campaign appears to be exploiting the fact that they have religion on their side.  In addition, a key point to Jeffress’ introduction was making the distinction between Mormonism and Protestant Christianity.  Jefress was making an effort to inform the public that Mormonism has nothing to do with Protestant Christianity. Further more, Jeffress used the work ‘cult’ to describe Romney’s religion because of the negative connotation that it has, especially in relation to Presidential Candidate.  Regardless of what Perry’s campaign was trying to do, they might have taken it too far.  This might play against Perry.  The words by Jefress have been extremely controversial in the news.  Especially with the favorable position that Romney is in, the harsh words from Perry’s party might give them the bad guy image, which is not what a Protestant Christian needs.   

Rick Perry Separation of Church and State

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/06/opinion/how-to-respond-to-rick-perrys-response.html?_r=1

When the subject of the Separation of Church and State is mentioned while talking about Rick Perry, everyone automatically thinks about the controversial Prayer Rally that Rick Perry put on in Texas.  Civil liberty groups among others have heavily criticized the event called “The Response”.  Furthermore, many believe that the event violated the First Amendment’s Separation of Church and State.  This is obviously a hot debate subject during these presidential campaigns.  In his New York Times article entitled, “How to Respond to Rick Perry and ‘The Response’”, Paul Horwitz expresses his quite unique view on the subject.  Horwitz does not believe in the way in which Perry’s critics are going about expressing their disagreement with Perry.  Horwitz says, “The problem is not only that such legal maneuvers routinely fail; it’s also that they do a disservice to religious freedom and diminish meaningful public debate.  There are better ways to express disagreement with religious statements made by elected officials than to sue the courts to try to pre-empt them.” (Horwitz).  This is a valid point made by Paul Horwitz.  Whether or not you agree with Perry, using the court to deal with the issue probably is not the best way to deal with the issue seeing that you are not exactly encouraging religious freedom.  Horwitz goes on, “Religion plays too important a part in many people’s lives to be denied a role in the public square.  To be sure, there are some things the state can’t do, like demand that schoolchildren pray each day. But elected officials, like other citizens, are free to have and express religious views.” (Horwitz).  This a good point, but I can’t definitively say if I agree or disagree with it.  Religion does play a big part in the lives of many individuals and I strongly believe in the freedom of religion.  However, being the president of such a large and diverse nation is a job that requires one to represent a vast group of peoples.  Without separating church and state, it would be tough to do so.  Additionally, there is no question that people with stronger religious beliefs have a more difficult time doing just that.  Whether or not Rick Perry is abiding by the first Amendment’s separation of Church and State or, he is definitely pushing the envelope through his political tactics thus far.  Because of his strict views, I would have to call him a separatist.  There simply have not been many signs just yet of Perry’s willingness to be an accomodationist.