Hispanic Voters & US Elections: Blond Fetish or Blatino Love?

The Times Online reveals that as Hispanic votes play an important part in the 24-state Super² Tuesday primary election, Chile once again has wedged its way into US politics. In courting Latin voters for Hillary Clinton's presidential bid, President Bill Clinton:

...cited, approvingly, “our neighbours in the south” where Latin America’s matriarchal societies have already produced women presidents in Argentina and Chile.

Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooal!

Chi-chi-chi! Le-le-le!

Anyway Clinton, famous himself for pit-stops at McDonalds on his morning jogs (or was that just an SNL skit?), ducked into a local picada in downtown Santiago on a visit to Chile while in office, and ever since it has borne his name.

So when he says "neighbors to the south" he knows what he's talking about. Except that it kinda ends there. He seems conveniently unaware of the real and imagined problems of electing female president in a sexist society:

Chile elected a female president to give itself a progressive veneer, then proceeded to trample on her for the failed policies of her predecessor, a man the country cowered under. That's one analysis. But really that's a whole different discussion.

Point is, according to the article, Mr. Clinton is tapping into a perceived tendency for this demographic inside the US to vote woman because, like, all Latins love the Virgin Mary or something.

Or, as the article also suggests, it might be because they hate blacks:

There have, however, been hints of a more sinister secret to her support. Sergio Bendixen, a Clinton pollster, recently gave public voice to a view previously only whispered. “The Hispanic voter — and I want to say this very carefully — has not shown a lot of willingness or affinity to support black candidates,” he told The New Yorker magazine.

And then you might also ponder whether it was purely coincidence that Clinton would nod to two of the "whitest" countries in South America. This, after all, is the same guy who's been condemned for using codified, racial language, doing his best to turn Hope Obama into Angry Black Obama.

Sure it's a stretch to say that Clinton's "neighbors to the south" = "white neighbors to the south". But you gotta admit that the word "blatino" just isn't something you here much of in these parts. (Please refer to the fascinating discussion of blacks in Chile in the comments there).

Indeed, in many other parts of Latin America there is a huge black population. And of course it's a veritable paradise where white Latins hold hands and sing with black Latins and Asian Latins, and everyone wears flowers in their hair:

Others have suggested a more subtle dynamic. Rodolfo de la Garza, at Columbia University in New York, says that Hispanics have little need for the redemption that support for Mr Obama offers liberal whites. “Latinos,” he says, “have not been the ones persecuting blacks.”

Sure...

There's no limit to the number of interpretations. You could even say that I invented the Times Online article as a proxy for my "racist" ideas. In fact, here's one more: you forgot to take your medication.