Every election we get a lot of Hispanic Hype because of their large numbers, but it's tough for the media to come up with any individual all that galvanizing. They still try, though ...
From the New York Times on the Democrats' keynote speaker, San Antonio mayor Julian Castro:
From the New York Times on the Democrats' keynote speaker, San Antonio mayor Julian Castro:
A Spotlight With Precedent Beckons a Mayor From Texas
By MANNY FERNANDEZ
SAN ANTONIO — ...
... The speculation lately about Mr. Castro’s future has reached fever pitch; there is talk of his running for governor, earning a place in Mr. Obama’s cabinet and even becoming the first Hispanic president. A Fox News Latino headline this summer read: “Julián Castro: Son of Chicana Activist, Harvard Law Grad, Future U.S. President?”
“Do I think he could be president?” asked Mr. Cisneros, who was secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development in the 1990s. “I think he’s smart enough. I think he understands the level of work and attention you have to give to politics over a lifetime to get there. He certainly has put himself in position to be among the mentionables going forward.” ...
... As Mr. Castro prepared to take the stage on Tuesday at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., to give the biggest speech of his life — the first Latino to give the keynote address in the convention’s history — it was hard to know what was consuming this city more: Mr. Castro’s rising political cachet, or the vote on his pre-K program.
... The pre-K plan illustrates the extent to which Mr. Castro, though of a different ideological stripe, has forged an identity as Texas’ version of the vice-presidential candidate Paul D. Ryan — a youthful, ambitious and dynamic policy wonk turned political star. Since becoming mayor in 2009, Mr. Castro, 37, has immersed himself in the minutiae of running a municipality while maintaining the connections that led to the second-biggest keynote address of his career in June, when he spoke at the state Democratic convention in Houston.
In 2004, a state senator from Illinois named Barack Obama delivered the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention, which catapulted him to national prominence, and there are broad parallels in the lives of Mr. Castro and Mr. Obama. Both men were raised by single mothers, graduated from Harvard Law School and succeeded in transcending the racial politics that often pigeonhole black and Hispanic politicians.
When Mr. Castro delivers his speech on Tuesday, he will be 12 days shy of 38. In his office at City Hall, one wall is adorned with an old poster from another young candidate’s campaign: his mother’s unsuccessful run for City Council at age 23 in 1971. Rosie Castro, now 65, was at the time a community activist with La Raza Unida, a party that challenged the largely white political establishment and fought to expand the rights of Chicanos, or American citizens of Mexican descent.
... Last year, Mr. Castro won a second two-year term with nearly 82 percent of the vote.
Turnout in that election was 7.07 percent, down from 9.83% when Castro was elected. That's because nobody in San Antonio outside of the candidates' families cares who gets elected mayor because the mayor gets paid about $4,000 per year because San Antonio is actually run by its city manager, who gets paid $355,000.
... San Antonio has become a kind of Berkeley of the Southwest,
Huh? They've been discovering transuranic elements in San Antonio? Look, San Antonio is a nice place, with a nice stable source of income in the Pentagon, but the NYT is just babbling here:
a progressive, economically vibrant and Democratic-leaning city of 1.3 million in Republican-dominated Texas.
The funny thing about Castromania! is that it was launched by a May 2010 article in the New York Times Magazine, which when read carefully is more or less of a rightwing satire on Obama's America and elaborate practical joke.
The jokester is veteran rightist journalist Zev Chafets. He grew up in Detroit, fled when Coleman Young became mayor, enlisted in the Israeli army, and became a press officer for Menachem Begin. Recently, he wrote an enthusiastic biography of Rush Limbaugh.
Chafets went looking for somebody who is even more of a "blank screen" than Obama, then tried to promote Castro into Presidential Timberhood solely on the basis of his race. It's not like Chafets tried to keep anybody from noticing how comic this was:
"Early in his administration, Castro assigned his chief of staff, Robbie Greenblum—a Jewish lawyer from the border town of Laredo whose own Spanish is impeccable—to discreetly find him a tutor. Rosie Castro's son is now being taught Spanish by a woman named Marta Bronstein. Greenblum met her in shul."
Chafets' prank is working. And nobody even gets the joke.
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58 comments:
San Antonio as the Berkeley of the Southwest has to be the most absurd description I've ever read. SA is a sprawling nexus of suburbs and military bases. There is nothing there.
People from El Paso disdain San Antonio as a pit...that's how pointless it is there.
Yeah, but it got that Riverwalk though. That's entertaining for all of like 3 hours.
That poor city manager.
"Her contract also includes a $6,000 dollar expense account, a $400 dollar a month car allowance and $70 for her cell phone."
"Chafets' prank is working. And nobody even gets the joke."
then it's not a joke anymore.
"Chafets calls Castro "brilliant" but, strikingly, Castro's 1210 SAT is the same as George W. Bush's 1206 (they didn't round to the nearest ten back in W.'s day)"
how would the adjustments work?
I presume the Castro Twins took the SAT before the renorming in 1995.
San Antonio is economically vibrant? Every time it loses another Air Force base it shudders. The demographics mean that San Antonio can never be more than a government town. Never.
Last big thing to happen in San Antonio was Hemisfair '68, and before that the Alamo.
In defense of San Antonio, it's extremely cheap, not too humid, and yet also has trees.
"Chafets' prank is working. And nobody even gets the joke."
Pranks that "no one gets" have a way of getting out of control.
Maybe Obama started out as a prank too, and no one got the joke then either; and now it's too late to admit the mistake.
nobody notices nuthin'
http://tennishasasteroidproblem.blogspot.com/2010/12/fuentes-profile.html
http://tennishasasteroidproblem.blogspot.com/2011/01/interesting-fuentes-article.html
"I presume the Castro Twins took the SAT before the renorming in 1995."
they made the cut. was thinking more along the lines of changes in the test. Apparently not so.
"1990 In this year, ten students out of 1.2 million test takers (roughly one in 120,000 students) get perfect scores of 1600 on the SAT. "
"In 1994, 25 students got perfect scores out of about 1.25 million (about 1 in 50,000 students). The first recentered SAT in April has 137 perfect scores out of about 200,000 test takers (about 1 in 1,400 students). "
"Out of 1.38 million seniors taking the SAT, 238 (roughly 1 in 5,000 students) receive a perfect score of 2400. In 2004, approximately the same number of seniors took the SAT, and 939 (about 1 in 1,500 students) received a perfect score of 1600. "
Menachem Begin was the first right-wing(Likud)Prime Minister of Israel, elected in 1977... Could be said that he is the pratical father of the Neoconservatism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menachem_Begin#Prime_Minister_of_Israel
,The demographics mean that San Antonio can never be more than a government town. Never.
At least the city manager is privatized.
It is certainly cheap, though it is crazy hot and fantastically humid as well. The McNay Art Museum is pretty but loaded with fakes. The live oaks are nice, though it is the worst place to be if you have allergies.
The NYT tells us that "Both men [Obama & Castro]...succeeded in transcending the racial politics that often pigeonhole black and Hispanic politicians."
Hello-ooo? Can you Democrats say, "Dog Whistle"?! If the Times didn't dog whistle "institutional Racism™ in politics" and "white Racist™ politicians holding down People of Color" there, then my political bloodhound ears just aren't working tonight.
Don't you love it when you catch the pot calling the kettle black? Oh, wait - is the foregoing aphorism now one of those banned Racist™ dog whistle phrases that everyone's now supposed to fear to commit the Thoughtcrime of thinking of saying?
I'm old enough to remember when somebody local aced the SAT, it would be in the newspaper.
I'm also old enough to remember reading newspapers for, well, news.
"At least the city manager is privatized."
Libertarianism will be obligatory in multiracial/multicultural future America if we want this country working.
Rosie Castro's son is now being taught Spanish by a woman named Marta Bronstein.
And, how's he doing? That stuff is like straight from Jewish jokes...
"Castro's 1210 SAT"
How does one with 1210 on SAT get into Stanford? (And from there into Harvard?). That is firmly blacks affirmative action territory...
The presidential election is starting to look like Miss USA pageant in mid-90's. You would start guessing at the beginning of the show which minority was going to win at the end.
Obama was not raised by a single mother. He was raised by Mr. Soetoro and his wife, until they abandoned him to his grandparents.
Seth says San Antonio is "crazy hot and fantastically humid".
On the humidity issue, trust Seth, not me. I was only there in April. Now that I think about it, I was in San Antonio in August 1976, and just kept driving.
Julian Castro will be able to serve as mayor for 8 years, giving him more time to consolidate his power. Prior to his election, San Antonio mayors and council members were limited to two 2-year terms.
In the Nov. 2008 election, the political class finally overturned this statute with a well-funded campaign that tried to confuse everyone with billboards nonsensically declaring "EXTEND TERM LIMITS."
The point was to manipulate people into voting "YES" by making them think that the term limits law was about to sunset, and they would need to "EXTEND" it.
Of course, what it actually did was give mayors and councilmen up to 8 years in office rather than 4.
Despite this, and having barely organized opposition, it passed with only 51% of the vote.
Elected shortly thereafter, Castro was its first beneficiary.
@Seth
How do El Pasoans manage to talk trash about San Antonio with so much dust-storm sand in their mouths?
Just asking...
"How does one with 1210 on SAT get into Stanford? (And from there into Harvard?). That is firmly blacks affirmative action territory..."
In absolute numbers, there are probably about as many mestizos with a 1210 (out of 1800) as there are Asian men with 800 on the math section.
He is a rare bird even if he is not particularly talented. What IQ is 1210 on the SAT back then? about 129?
I am looking here
http://www.assessmentpsychology.com/iq.htm
"How does one with 1210 on SAT get into Stanford? (And from there into Harvard?). That is firmly blacks affirmative action territory..."
In absolute numbers, there are probably about as many mestizos with a 1210 (out of 1600) as there are Asian men with 800 on the math section.
He is a rare bird even if he is not particularly talented. What IQ is 1210 on the SAT back then? about 129?
I am looking here
http://www.assessmentpsychology.com/iq.htm
The only thing I can think of is that the author was confusing San Antonio with Austin. I guess all Texas cities look alike to some people.
As for it being a Democrat city, I call BS on that too. The White population there is as conservative as they come (hardcore pro-Israel televangelist John Hagee is based there). And the Hispanics there are more conservative than most if their brethren. I know someone who went to a large Ron Paul rally there, and said that the crowd was at least half Hispanic.
"Chafets' prank is working. And nobody even gets the joke."
Pranks that "no one gets" have a way of getting out of control.
Maybe Obama started out as a prank too, and no one got the joke then either; and now it's too late to admit the mistake.
A prank? But who is doing this prakn?
A President called Hussein & then they want one called Castro! It has precedent - the first President was called George.
The left really has gone kookoo. First they shill for a president named Hussein, and now they are introducing a future candidate named Castro. Yikes!
The long march of the Onion through the institutions of american politics continues unabated
I live in Austin and my husband went to law school in San Antonio. The city is hot, but so is every other place in this state, and it's humid only by comparison to places in the desert or with sea breezes. Houston is much worse.
Also, San Antonio is slightly more liberal than, say, Dallas, but far from Texas' version of Berkeley. That would be Austin, which is by leaps and bounds the most liberal place in the state and for years has been the center for new businesses. (Houston makes more money, but Houston depends entirely on oil.)
San Antonio is growing faster than most places in Texas does that surprise anyone. But it more US born Hispanic compared to El Paso. It has actually higher home ownership than Austin. A of low skilled factories were California like the noodle products and San Antonio has a lot of call centers since people can speak both English and Spanish.
Berkeley is low income which suprises folks here but sometimes its had a poverty rate over 20 percent. Its the University that does an impression its doing well.
Well, when I looked the home ownership of counties and towns in Texas I thought they have high ownership not always the case. Actually folks would probably do better in Tucson Az than San Antonio its hot but not humid and its still more white. Republicans would be smarter to go to Phoenix since there is now only a point difference in Texas cities favor but Phoenix Maricopa has slightly less Hispanics and far less blacks than Dallas and Houston. Its hot but not humid.
"Early in his administration, Castro assigned his chief of staff, Robbie Greenblum—a Jewish lawyer from the border town of Laredo whose own Spanish is impeccable—to discreetly find him a tutor. Rosie Castro's son is now being taught Spanish by a woman named Marta Bronstein. Greenblum met her in shul."
Wow! I get it now... This is Obama history in Chicago with the jews.
El Paso is poorer than San Antonio and more foreign born so why do they disdain it. El Paso is the Santa Ana of Texas, not a comment here.
What that Castro fellow really needs is something absolutely horrible in his past, setting him up for total blackmail. Then the right sort of people will regard him as fully controllable, and relentlessly promote his political advancement to the highest possible level.
If Castro's lacking that important factor right now, he should go out and commit some monstrous crime, then make sure the evidence somehow gets into the right hands. Once that happens, his political future will be assured...
http://ucomm.stanford.edu/cds/2011.html
Stanford's lowest quartile admissions is 670 (reading), 690 (math), 680 (writing). Granted, that's post re-centering. But corrected for recentering, 690 is not going to become 610. And about 7% of that lowest quartile is taken by blacks. So it sounds like Castro fits somewhere in the lowest 5% admissions devoted to Latinos.
Oh, an HLS grad, say no more
Also, San Antonio, unlike Houston, has some hills, allowing nice views without riding in an elevator.
Yes, I am in fact still alive, the Cabinet member who died in a plane crash was that other guy. Please note I'm available for any and all media enquiries
The subtext story in all these Julian Castro blurbs is a reassuring one, to wit, the east coasters have realized that Antonio Villaraigosa is going nowhere
Hey, now, be fair. Mayor of San Antonio is more executive experience than Obama had before 2009.
I was born and raised in San Antonio, then lived in the Bay Area for fourteen years, and am now back in SA (or North Mexico, as my brother calls it).
The perfect Bay Area weather has definitely ruined me for anything (and anywhere) else.
Yes, SA is hot and humid for six (okay, seven) months of the year, but like Karen says, Houston is worse. Heck, I seem to remember Orlando in the summer being more miserable than SA or anywhere else in TX.
The north side of town pushes into the Hill Country, so, yeah, there are some hills and nice views. Better than the flat south side of town, at least. My mom for a while lived in a house on a hill in a neighborhood by Camp Bullis, and not only was it possible to hear (faintly) artillery and small-arms fire from the Camp Bullis practice ranges, but when fireworks-worthy holidays rolled around, the view from her house was such that one could see the fireworks downtown, and at Sea World, and (barely) at Fiesta Texas.
I don't know much about the Castro twins. I have vague memories of Cisneros from when I was a kid, before he went all corrupt at HUD. That seems a likely career path for whichever one of the Castro brothers gets anointed by the DNC.
Look, I'm an SA native, and I like it here, and, sure, I wish it was cooler in the summer and more walkable in general and had more gigs for me and my trumpet, but to call it "progressive" and "a kind of Berkeley of the Southwest" and "Democratic-leaning" is just wishful thinking.
Maybe SA is more progressive now than it was twenty years ago, but that just means it grudgingly accepted that 300 acres of land be turned into Hardberger Park instead of being paved over and turned into a Walmart.
(The Walmart is being built next to the park, btw, because SA is nothing if not beholden to developers.)
I am shocked, shocked I say, that El Paso, which is nothing but the slummiest bits of Del Rio or Eagle Pass writ large, would disdain SA. We have all the rich Mexican nationals, for crying out loud.
And to the wag who made the comment about the Riverwalk: I would have you know, good sir, that the Riverwalk was recently extended and is now entertaining for a solid three hours and twenty minutes.
Doesn't anyone see a parallel with the great Tony Villar of Los Angeles (now known as Mayor Villaraigosa)? He has a lousy resume and poor record in LA but is now the go to Latino for the Dems. He makes cute little Ricky in FL look like Winston Churchill. Still he appears on the Sunday talk shows like he is the real deal. http://www.lightlybraisedturnip.com/villaraigosa-national-spokespe/
I don't know why people from El Paso look down on SA...probably some kind of narcissism of small differences.
SA is technically one of the ten largest US cities, but that includes everything within a radius of about 50 miles.
The most interesting thing about the article to me is that the once-common 1970s term Chicano is now so rare that they had to define it.
Well, the Azlan art in San Antonio is very Berkeley like. There some Hispanic radicals but I don't think its Berkeley yet or the hispanic version since the Mexicans have better home ownership than they do in other places.
Well, they have had a Ron Paul Rally but San Antonio gave over 60 percent of the vote to Obama in 2008. And some Hispanics were involved in the immigrant rights marches in 2006 and Texans say that are Mexicans are more domestic than California however one Hispanic rights lawyer that appeared on Lou Dobbs was from San Antonio very much against deportations. Whites conservatives,si hispanics no.
Castro and his wife look kinda asian. As does Sotomayor. So Obama chooses an asian looking hispanic to be the first hispanic Supreme Court Justice and an asian looking hispanic to be the first hispanic to give the keynote address at the DEmocratic Convention. See a pattern?
The Castros would fit in Indonesia and Sotomayor in Hawaii. Two places Obama grew up in.
He has also appointed 3 asians to his cabinet. That is 3 times more than any president before him....
The Duke of Wellington was quite an impressive guy. He did more than just beat Napoleon.
He has also appointed 3 asians to his cabinet. That is 3 times more than any president before him....
There was a President who appointed 3/4 of an Asian to the Cabinet? I'm skeptical.
Now see here Steve:
is more or less of a right wing satire ...
I've bit my tongue for almost a year about your needless use of 'of'. Are you seriously telling me that all your life in L.A. you didn't hear people mouth the exact comment above, in all sorts of entertainment contexts, without the 'of'?
I contributed last year and this, but I think not in 2013, unless Obama loses, in which case I'll be able to suck it up.
There is nothing there.
There's a restaurant at the Quarry with the rather comical name of Paesano's, but the food's great. And I live a block from Chez Panisse.
“Joaquin and I got into Stanford because of affirmative action. I scored 1,210 on my SATs, which was lower than the median matriculating student,” he said. “But I did fine in college and in law school. So did Joaquin. I’m a strong supporter of affirmative action because I’ve seen it work in my own life.”
Well, I got a 1500 on my SAT in 1991, and I was rejected from Stanford....they already had enough south asians and not enough hispanics. Nothing like affirmative action to make me think less of NAMs.
"I've bit my tongue for almost a year about your needless use of 'of'."
No, you haven't. Do shut up about it. It's one of Steve's charming gallicisms.
Castro gave a good keynote speech today. So did Michelle Obama. There were a lot of good speeches. The Democrats must be very pleased with their first day of the Convention.
By the way, Castro's wife is attractive and unique looking. Their little daughter seems to be a bit of a wild child.
"Well, I got a 1500 on my SAT in 1991, and I was rejected from Stanford....they already had enough south asians and not enough hispanics. Nothing like affirmative action to make me think less of NAMs."
Another South Asian here with similar stats as you, though a decade later. Rejected from Stanford.
Vanderbilt is the last top25 private that won't 'quota' Asian-american applicants as blatantly because there aren't many there (yet).
Plus the pu**y is better at Vandy.
Anonymous said...
Castro and his wife look kinda asian. As does Sotomayor. So Obama chooses an asian looking hispanic to be the first hispanic Supreme Court Justice and an asian looking hispanic to be the first hispanic to give the keynote address at the DEmocratic Convention. See a pattern?
The Castros would fit in Indonesia and Sotomayor in Hawaii. Two places Obama grew up in.
He has also appointed 3 asians to his cabinet. That is 3 times more than any president before him....
And don't forget the supposedly influential "black" in his cabinet, valarie jaret, looks 100% asian.
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