Editor’s Note: I just got a call pointing me to this story on CNN. I was really surprised. While we don’t normally run political stories on HPRB, this one seemed appropriate. See, the word on the street is that Romney plays down his heritage, and perhaps may even be embarrased by it — interesting from a PR perspective.
Bill Gato, my counterpart at Hispanicize, also has some thoughts, and will be running more political stories from a social media angle as we grow closer to the upcoming election. If you haven’t already, be sure to sign up for the HPZ newsletter!
From the CNN Story:
Que? You didn’t know that Mitt Romney was half-Mexican? It’s true. In fact, if he makes it to the White House, in addition to becoming the first Mormon in the Oval Office, he could also be the nation’s first Hispanic president.
Don’t laugh. Technically, Romney is just as “Mexican” as former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who was born of a Mexican mother and American father. When Richardson ran for the White House in 2008, he was often touted by the media as someone who would become the nation’s first Hispanic president.
Yet, I would imagine that a lot of Americans aren’t aware of this branch of the Romney family tree, and that’s because it is not a detail that Romney usually talks about publicly — and especially not on the campaign trail.
A Republican Mormon for the first Hispanic president….really? I think Edward James Olmos needs to take this as a sign that he needs to bring his Jaime Escalante persona to the white house once and for all. Stand and Deliver already wrote his speech for the Hispanic voters anyway, “There will be no free rides, no excuses. You already have two strikes against you: your name and your complexion. Because of those two strikes, there are some people in this world who will assume that you know less than you do…. If you don’t have the ganas, I will give it to you because I’m an expert.” Romney and his millions wouldn’t stand a chance.