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Mitt Romney was criticized for his harsh rhetoric toward undocumented immigrants by Newt Gingrich, only to have Latino leaders such as Marco Rubio come to his defense. (Flickr)

By ARNOLDO TORRES
Channel: Politics

The past week in politics saw new opportunities develop but end with the same old results for the Latino community in this country.
 
Over the course of 19 Republican presidential debates that spanned eight months, most of the GOP candidates have been harsh, offensive, extreme, hypocritical, and void of any ideas for addressing the issue of undocumented immigration to the U.S.
 
They had debated in California, Nevada, and Texas, and three times in Florida. They called for a bigger and longer border fence, made remarks that were completely intolerant of immigrants who came to the U.S. for economic opportunity, and they ignored the phenomenal economic contributions that unauthorized workers have made to the economies in the very states where they were debating.
 
Most of all, they failed to acknowledge the human element of immigration even though most of their ancestors came to the U.S. for similar reasons.
 
While Texas Gov. Rick Perry was the first to deviate from the party line on immigration, the only candidate that had remained steadfast in dealing with this challenge differently was former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
 
In Florida, he called Mitt Romney “anti-immigrant” based on his debate rhetoric and for accepting the endorsement of Kris Kobach, the architect of the Arizona and many other state immigration crackdown laws.
 
All of a sudden, Gingrich began to say what many Latinos had been saying and feeling, and national polling had reflected — Romney was considered by many as “anti-immigrant,” his image in the Latino community was very poor and his support low.
 
Something was happening that had never happened before, Republican candidates were being held accountable for their comments and posturing. And another Republican candidate, Gingrich, was the one holding them accountable.
 
This debate captured the attention of the national media. I have never seen another GOP primary in which one candidate called out another on immigration in such a blunt manner. Wow, maybe something would really come of this!
 
But as is usually the case in politics — especially for Latinos — things are not that simple.
 
Instead of Romney being held accountable by Latinos voters in Florida and leaving wounded from the first primary state with a large Latino presence, it is Gingrich who will leave in defeat. How did this happen?
 
Latinos supporting Romney, who are mostly Cuban-American, took offense to Gingrich’s “anti-immigrant” remark and demanded he pulled the ad that contained the charge. They claimed that Gingrich crossed the line and that Romney’s position in immigration was not overly harsh. Gingrich pulled the ads because, according to reports, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R) had requested that he do so because he too felt that Gingrich had gone overboard.
 
Even though he didn’t officially endorse Romney before the primary, it appeared by his words and actions whom Rubio favored.
 
Rubio put the nail in the coffin when he addressed the Hispanic Leadership Network (HLN) last Friday and gave what many in the audience felt was a great speech.
 
The senator spoke about how he and others in the Republican Party had not been as understanding of the plight of “DREAM Act kids” and the predicament of undocumented workers. Rubio even said he wanted to have a conversation with two young men who interrupted his speech because of his anti-DREAM Act position and past comments against a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
 
But all of this was now irrelevant within the context of the primary race. Gingrich had pulled the ad, Florida Latinos were rallying around Romney’s candidacy, Latino lawmakers from Florida (who have in the past supported the DREAM Act and voiced concern over the harsh rhetoric on immigration of party’s presidential candidates) had signed the letter to Gingrich requesting that he pull his “anti-immigrant” radio ads against Romney.
 
There was no more accountability, no more serious debate about immigration amongst the Republican candidates still vying for the nomination.
 
Instead of receiving credit for generating a debate over the potential long-term benefits of a serious immigration overhaul, Gingrich had paid a heavy price.
 
Meanwhile, the media lauded Rubio for his tone and his mea culpa, but many others felt it was too little, and clearly too late.
 
Once again, Latinos exercised their usual vigor for holding accountable all the wrong politicians, especially ones from our own community who put politics above principle.
 
Part of the responsibility for this, in my view, falls on the HLN. The mission of the group is to rehabilitate the Republican/conservative brand in the Latino community by “reaching out to the Hispanic community and communicating the center-right message.”
 
But that message has been muddled. For evidence of that, look no further than the two co-chairmen of the group, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and former Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez.
 
Bush has been consistent, honest, and forward-thinking in his warning to other Republicans that they must change their approach, tone, and message to the Latino community. He had spoken, to no avail, to the Republican presidential candidates and their campaigns about their negative tone and offensive words being used in the debates. He did not endorse any candidate, even though Romney heavily courted his support. In many interviews over the past few months, he has been direct and clear about what was wrong and needed to be done.
 
On the other hand, Gutierrez chose to endorse Romney and signed the letter to Gingrich pressuring him to pull his ads.
 
Last week began with a unique opportunity to turn a new page when it comes to Latinos’ place in U.S. politics. But instead, we went back to business as usual. Instead of starting a real dialogue with both political parties who continue to use us, we let accountability slip through our fingers again. This does not bring us respect from either party, but rather brings pandering and appeasement. We have no one to blame but ourselves.

Arnoldo Torres has been an independent political analyst for Univision Network for the past 12 years.