Jeb Bush’s 2009 voter-registration application from the Miami-Dade County Elections Department shows that the GOP presidential hopeful marked himself as a hispanic, reported The New York Times.
The NYT noted how Bush has a lot of appeal with hispanics: he speaks spanish, majored in Latin Studies in college, married a Mexican woman, and he even converted to Roman Catholicism in 1996. But to actually claim that he’s hispanic is pushing it.
Despite his credentials, Bush needs to realize that he’s still just another North American, old white guy. To put it into Latino/Spanish terms, Bush is a gringo. Although the NYT noted it’s probably a careless mistake, considering that Bush likes to overhype his hispanic “street cred,” it’s quite possible it wasn’t a mistake.
Remember, he did convert to Roman Catholicism in 1996 when he was poising himself as a politician in Florida, a state with a large hispanic population that is largely Roman Catholic. Bush’s wife is Roman Catholic, and some could say he did it for her. However, they were married in 1974, and he didn’t spend 20 years mulling over the decision.
Bush was Episcopalian, but the timing of his conversion looks odd. The jump didn’t happen until he really had a reason to appeal to hispanics.
Bush is moderate on immigration, which is bound to pull in a few more hispanic voters that aren’t staunchly Democratic. However, Bush should really temper his public relations efforts. He’s getting carried away.
