Poor, poor GOP. Two days after the most historic election in our lifetimes, the GOP is feeling left out of the party.
A party they disinvited themselves to hundreds of years ago.
Turns out that Brown people voted, in droves and by the bazillions, for President Elect Obama (I love typing that) on Tuesday. And the GOP just can't figure out why.
And it's not just that they we voted for Obama on Tuesday, it is that the Democractic party might just get their our loyal votes in the future!
Barack Obama not only won a clear majority of the votes Tuesday night, but he won with a coalition that dramatically recolored the Electoral College map and creates an opportunity for Democrats to have the upper hand after a long period of Republican electoral dominance.
You betcha' GOP! The Democratic party had my loyalty even before I was born. It was understood in my fifth generation Hispanic family that the only way to vote was to vote for a Democrat. This long term blue family didn't even like it when a member didn't vote a straight Democratic ticket. Coming from a working railroad family, we knew who had our backs. The Democrats.
But it wasn't just that Democratic breeding that kept us loyal it has been the way the GOP has continually treated us.
In digesting Obama's 67 percent to 31 percent edge over McCain among Latino voters, this strategist said, "We've got to get a handle on these voters before they turn completely. They have become increasingly the key to a number of critical swing states."
The GOP will never be able to get "a handle" on anyone that they constantly make a wedge issue out of.
Brown fear.
Brown people who are all illegally in this country.
Lazy Brown people.
Brown people that make health insurance more expensive and drive up medical costs.
Just a few examples.
And don't even get me started on their wedge issues of "English only" legislation and an ID program that singles me out, a Brown American, from White Americans.
I can't speak for all Brown people in this country. We are as diverse as we are many. But I do know this...in my home state of New Mexico (which completely and profoundly swept the key Republicans over the state line on Tuesday) we know who has our backs and who doesn't.
Here are some breakdowns by county in New Mexico for Tuesday's Presidential race.
Where Obama won:
Bernalillo (most populous including Albuquerque) - 60% to 39%
Santa Fe - 77%to 22%
Rio Arriba - 75% to 24%
Dona Ana - 58% to 41%
McKinley (high concentration of Native American voters) - 71% to 28%
Taos - 82% to 17%
Colfax - 55% to 44%
Mora - 79% to 21%
Believe me, Mike, when I say President Elect Obama will not have to worry about his mandate. He will not be overstepping any bounds when it comes to most of the Hispanic voters in this country.
Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan said a good deal of where the GOP goes from here depends on how President-elect Obama governs. Duncan drew historical analogies to when Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton took office, in 1977 and 1993, respectively, in making the case that Obama might overstep his mandate.
I don't believe, for one nanosecond, that President Elect Obama will ever condone the presence of the Minute Men on our southern border.
And when the Latinos/Hispanics/Browns spoke up about issues that concerned them, Obama listened.
The GOP has continually turned a deaf ear to us. They must figure fear mongering works better.
Your loss GOP.