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Except for perhaps Senate hopeful Elizabeth Warren and especially former President Bill Clinton, Day Two of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, seemed to lurch forward at a snail’s past — kind of like the economic recovery
Wait. I feel as though I’m missing something…. Oh, yeah!
Cristina Saralegui, the famed Cuban-American TV personality and former host of the widely-watched Cristina, took to the stage Wednesday night to talk about her experience as a Cuban immigrant chasing the American Dream.
For many Latinos who grew up watching Cristina — and who will always refer to her as simply “Cristina” — her appearance in front of the DNC last night marked a special occasion. As she noted, the former TV host — is it safe to call her the Latina Oprah? — is not known for her politics. In fact, it’s Cristina’s apolitical nature that lends more weight to the speech she delivered last night in favor of President Obama.
Cristina’s support for Obama and the Democrats also does much to negate the likes of Senator Marco Rubio and all the other Florida Cubans who tend to vote Republican.
In an article yesterday published by Fox News Latino, a distinction was drawn between Senator Rubio and San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro based on their separate nationalities and the politics perceived to originate in those nationalities. It’s a widely-held but misconceived belief that Cuban Americans all come from wealth and vote Republican, and that Mexican Americans all come from poverty and vote Democratic. Moises Venegas, a retired Mexican-American educator and Latino community activist in New Mexico, believes the same:
“The Cubans have never been one of us. They didn’t come from Chihuahua or Sonora in Mexico and from poor backgrounds. They came from affluent backgrounds and have a different perspective. The Republican Party also has opened doors just for them.”
Yet, here we have Cristina, a famous Cuban woman — una habanera, no less — who, unlike Senator Rubio, was actually born on the island and who supports the Democratic platform.
Cristina may have revealed her reason for finally voicing her political stance when she said:
“On immigration, Governor Romney’s views — this really freaked me out — his views could not be more extreme. He says that we should make life so unbearable for 11 million people that they simply ‘self-deport.’ What is that? He said that Arizona’s immigration law should be a ‘model’ for our country. [crowd boos] Don’t boo. Vote.”
She went on to explain that the difference between Romney and Obama is that one man sees the undocumented as “illegal aliens” while the other sees them as “DREAMers.”
It’s great to see a Cuban American from the island stand in favor of progressive values. The myth about Florida Cubans being a synch for the Republican Party is just that — a myth.
And let’s not forget about Gloria Estefan, who also opposes the Republican immigration position and who held a Democratic fundraiser back in 2010 where President Obama himself was in attendance.
Estefan is also famously Cuban — y una habanera, no less.
About Hector Luis Alamo, Jr.
Every time I hear her name, I think about that car scene in Selena
VIEJA COCHINA!!!
She should go back to exploiting las vidas de idiotas.
She is supporting a party that has policies and ideas very similar to the totalitarians that caused her family to flee from Cuba in the first place. Say what you may, she still doesn’t represent the Cuban American community and she is doing this because the connections in the entertainment and media industry are far larger in the Democrat camp. Her support for Obama is mercenary, all the altruistic rethoric is fluff coming from a multi millionaire.
These so called Cubans… have they forgotten why they are here in the US? Why they left Cuba? OMG
Obama all day!!!
I don’t care what she or anyone else has to say… I’m with Obama because Obama is with my people…
No need to insult the woman, that’s her choice! Her being Mexican or Cuban or Colombian really is not the issue and a platform to stand on. Again also the likes of Cristina will stoop down low and use false statements like ” He says that we should make life so unbearable for 11 million people that they simply ‘self-deport.’ What is that? He said that Arizona’s immigration law should be a ‘model’ for our country.” I wish i could call her out on ti, nah you know what i will, show me the statement on video where that was said!,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Obamas ideology of dreamers was not the principle on which those seeking the true american dream immigrated for! A true hispanic dreamer comes to work and like many before did it right by fixing his status and did what ever was necessary to accomplish it, but they didnt do it on some utopian dream agenda which is not reality. Cristina just like Oprah have made many peoples dreams come true, and thats good but its all still not how the reality of life really plays out. Handouts and pep talking to latinos does not get them a job, career and education! The dreamer ideology is a reverse of the well known and proven saying “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” I dont see at all whwere Cristina’s speech was a good thing all i see is someone fomenting hype with out real substance!
Anyone that can support arizona and its war on immigrants has no right to represent me! Good speech cristina! It is indeed scary!
Yea still not voting for Obozo
AWESOME!!!!!
Everyone is entitled to their choice. Thank God we live in a country that allows us to, but Latinos who vote Rep are complete sellouts. Do you really think Romney/Ryan give 3 f**ks about us? I think NOT!
No no
@Walter yeah because it’s a piece of cake to fix it.. They usually bar you for 10 years from coming back to this country and after that they rarely give you permission to come back.
War on immigrants, war on women, war on the middle class.. no one in their right mind would vote for the GOP this time around.
@maura nice to read ur hateful words against which is all lies
Who are you claiming that I hate today? Ayer it was Cubans, who is it now? And I don’t see how my comment was hateful but if it makes you feel better… OK!
look who came out to stalk me n maura again! juan marroquin hahahaa
Juan you hate cubans because you disagree with cristina!
So Latinos, break the laws, the DNC will look the other way. They want your votes!
That was an embarrassment to all Latinos. A typical vieja who can’t even speak English understandably got up there and nagged America about how Obama was going to give them more tax payer dollars, well technically they are borrowed from foreign investors.
its a rare occasion when Yary agrees with with Mr. Alamo. Finally, a thumbs up from me Hector!
More pandering at the DNC. They just had a speaker from each voter block go up there and declare that government assistance is the greatest thing in the world. It was the most shameful thing I have seen.
Unfortunately, by choosing Christina as a speaker was a hugh reach…this mayt have worked 15-20 years ago, but she has even fallen out of favor with many within the Latino community…even her own Cuban heritage has denounced her as a “chusma”…she was once the Latino/Latina version of Oprah, but she like many others quickly turned into Jerry Springer…she is old news as far as I’m concerned…
Wow that was huge for Christina to come out & publicly announce her affiliation to the democratic party. We defiantly need a immigration reform for everyone safety. As a Latino born here in the USA I think that illegals are just that illegal its tough u know once you cross a boundary that’s it but wait a minute the buc doesn’t stop there because the scum that hires these people to me are the ones who should be paying the fines for each individual they hired illegally to make them legal in this country I am sorry that’s my point of view. These schools who accepted undocumented students should be fined also & that money should be applied to legalize those students then make them take out student loans so they can pay interest like every other student not a free scholarship or grant in a illegal status it’s just not fair we have to be fair people
The real issue I have is why did she come out and speak now???? She was at one point a strong influential Latina amongst alll Hispanics across the board…and now she wants us to believe she is pro Maobama. This screams “payday” at a point in her career where she has become irrellevant….
Christina is a disgrace to the Cuban people! She is not the Oprah of spanish t.v. rather the Jerry Springer. She holds no weight with our people. Your article is ridiculous as we all know that not every Cuban was affluent, but most of us are intelligent enough to know when we are being duped. This administration is not for us, they want us to “owe” them almost everything out of their mouths during the DNC was about entitlements and what they would give us or do for us since we belong to them. Any educated person knows what that leads to and it isn’t a Democracy.