DEAD AIR :

Chasing the Republicans, Empty-Handed (John Balzar, March 27 2002, LA Times)

[S]o muddled are the Democrats and so stubborn their insistence on group loyalty that Antonio Villaraigosa could not resist a sloppy punch when the party handed him the microphone Saturday: "The president's trip this weekend to Latin America is part of an orchestrated strategy to curry favor with Latino voters."

(A) Perhaps, and (B) just what's wrong with that?

Wouldn't it be a better question to ask: Is it a good idea for the president of the United States to travel south? To shake hands with the heads of states in our own hemisphere? To hash out the neighborly things we share such as economic investment, immigration and the criminal fallout of the drug trade, as well as reestablishing the Peace Corps in Peru?

Or you can ask it this way: You mean George W. Bush should ignore Mexico, Central and South America? As Villaraigosa, the onetime state legislative leader and defeated candidate for mayor of Los Angeles, put it: "The Republican pursuit of Hispanic voters is a calculated political strategy. For us, it's an extension of our values."

I'm not Latino, except to the extent that we all are shaped by the cultures around us. But I do know the feeling of being left out by our government. I'd be
happier to see the president toss off old ideology and curry more favor, cross more boundaries, speak more languages, play more consensus politics across the whole field of our national disagreements.

Thankfully political parties learn slowly. Otherwise, the Democrats might have noticed that when Republicans accused Bill Clinton of stealing conservative ideas it only had the effect of making him seem more conservative and acceptable to their own constituents. Instead, here they are lashing out at President Bush for doing the bidding of Latino voters. When even John Balzar is making fun of them, the Democrats really must be lost. Posted by Orrin Judd at March 27, 2002 7:47 AM