A Modest Treatise on Hillary's Abuelo Contrtemps And Other Near Irrelevancies

[cali]

Ok, first, let's make this clear, the title is mockery. And, yes, I'm including myself in that. We're caught up in a lot of passionate exchanges that signify..... very.little.

In the long run, things like the campaign pandering/appealing to Hispanics by invoking this significant cultural image have little impact. How you see this depends on the filter with which you're looking at it. I think that if I did support Hillary, I'd cringe a bit. Maybe most Hillary supporter find it cute and warm. I admit to believing cute should be relegated to puppies and kids, but what I find interesting is what it reveals; if not about Hillary, about the minds orchestrating the campaign.

The Abuela kerfuffle may be relatively unimportant, but it is fundamentally different from talking about clothes or hair. As far as I'm concerned, Hillary is an attractive, appropriately attired woman and I have no interest in discussing her appearance.

The Clinton campaign projects a curious combination of cute and condescending. Remember the campaign promoting a box of some of Hillary's favorite household items?

In 2008 Hillary ran, in part, as a target shooting good old gal to appeal to white blue collar workers. Now, to the Hispanic community she's running as grandma/abuela. I say panering,condescending and revealing. You say warm, engaging and appealing.


So yeah, This story has little impact on the elections, but the image(s) that a candidate projects and how a campaign relates to the public is not irrelevant.

[enough]

1. I agree. It's the condescending part that bothers me.

That little "abuela" campaign was just dripping with condescension, which includes the idea that the people you're talking too are too dumb to see it.

I doubt Clinton herself invented the idea, and she may not even have vetted it. She has a lot to do. But the message takes me a little beyond mere cringing.

[cali]

3. I think it's because the condescension is so broad. Or as you put it, "dripping".

[Cali_Democrat]

2. "The Abuela kerfuffle"

LOL.

Abuela-gate.

[artislife]

4. As a Latina, I found it tone deaf.

I can admit that if I supported her I may not have found it so condescending.

But if she had used the same tactic with the African American audience it would clearly show how galling it is. Again if she had used it with the Swedish.population it wouldn't ruffle their feathers. Why? No one is yelling for Swedes...to go back to their homeland or for Swedes..to get out of victimhood.

There is a certain sensibility that one should have with minorities. Not knowing this does not instill confidence.


Please excuse any typos..auto correct sucks.

[dana_b]

8. "There is a certain sensibility that one should have with minorities. Not knowing this does

not instill confidence."

Thst is a really good point and something to look for in all candidates. Honestly, I am not sure if she is aware of how it sounds. Or maybe she didn't even know about the ad! But it reflects poorly. So far I haven't seen that ignorance from Bernie. He seems to treat everyone with respect and doesn't change what/how he speaks with people based on their culture/ethnicity. AS far as the Repubs go... I don't think that some care how they sound to others. Verbal diarrhea. Sorry for the gross terms - it just appropriately describes how their frontrunner speaks and behaves.

[MisterP]

5. it's how neoliberal candidates work--they can't go out and really run on their economics

even in 1994 they couldn't say that "sending our jobs to Mexico will lower prices for you the consumer"; after the tech and housing bubbles they can't promise that THIS time the boys in the brown suits have found an investment that'll NEVER go down; despite what the Greenspans and technocrats promising a rain of dollars promised--derivatives turned out to be all too understandable by humans

so instead they go to each and every group and say "I'm YOUR candidate": to some audiences they adopt a twang or a Marian turn of phrase, to others they'll dance the nae nae; it's nice and content-free, just a little cultural echo or signalling that doesn't require heavy lifting or deep-rooted promises that might piss off a different constituency or an important donor/client

problem is this all doesn't work if there's someone else in the race, so its contradictions become visible and she has to defend kicking out BLM by falling back on being "the Black candidate": bringing up criteria and qualifications of any sort "spoil the magic trick" and everyone starts yelling about Rahm being her eminence grise and "tough on crime" and CCA and and and

so they have to keep up appearances, a smooth, content free designation as "the X candidate" that you don't have to think about too much--and of course anything that threatens to put a pore in that smooth surface ends up met with virulent attacks--all of which then expose the promises made to OTHER constituencies: it all only works as long as the separate audiences never meet, like the trashy old joke, "to our wives and mistresses ..."

so now everyone's gonna jump on the abuelita comment: she just wants to look like there's a reason for her Latino numbers, to present herself as someone who knows and understands the issues, that she's getting her house ready to start pidiendo posada for Xmas: if you start squawking about how she's endorsed the War on some Drugs, devastating FTAs, the cruelest deportations, or that little 2009 coup--suddenly you're pissing on a nice little event, like someone burning a flag at a kindergarten play or licking donuts and yelling that you hate the country

[cali]

6. What an interesting and elegantly written post. Thanks.

[MisterP]

7. this sort of appeal would've worked if there weren't a significant candidate talking about the issue

now the "I'm just like you" extravaganzas, common in 80s-00s personality politics, change wildly in meaning: us wonks have a lot of ammo with this candidate (unlike the unknown 2008 Obama); that ends up producing a contrast between the feel-good event and the candidate's record dealing with the group being appealed to, which is considerably sourer: now every time she makes this sort of appeal, the facts start bubbling out, and that leads to hamfisted backlashes
it's like Gohmert yelling that the Pope's a Soviet agent or Rand Paul invoking Tuol Sleng--it's a technique from a different decade, and is just fuddling except among a few Bircher cultists

[Bonobo]

9. Superb post! nt

[Scuba]

10. Nailed it. Kinda like how she claimed she wanted to be the champion of the $15/hour movement...

... and then came out for 80% of that figure.