President Barack Obama is making a big push toward health care reform in the United States and the August deadline set forth by the president, while basically pointless and irrelevant, draws a line in the sand and may be an early indicator of what the president can actually get done over the next four years. The conservative movement has made the discussion of health care reform about Obama personally, to which the White House has responded that it isn’t about President Obama, it's about fixing a broken system.
But the political reality is that the White House might be speaking out of both sides of their mouth. While the White House publicly says the discussion shouldn’t be about the president, they are using the president's existing campaign structure to fight the battle for health care reform in the streets.
What made Obama such a force during the primary and general election campaigns was a distinct advantage he had over the Clintons and over McCain.
Obama had one hell of a ground game.
For all the jokes about Obama being a community organizer, it was that very point that gave Obama the advantage he needed to win the White House. Obama went on a huge winning streak of primaries on his way to the Democratic Party’s nomination for president of the United States. This was accomplished by a strong grassroots campaign structure.
The marriage of old-school grassroots organizing with new-school social networking created a mix of young, starry-eyed activists with seasoned, battled-tested organizers that spelled doom for the opposition. What is unique about the Obama campaign is that it’s the first time that a campaign structure didn’t die out at the grassroots level. Instead, the Obama campaign at the grassroots level is mobilizing to help the White House pass legislation from their agenda. The movement at the grassroots level is absolutely about faith in President Obama. So while the public message is that the healthcare reform debate is not about the president, the back story is that the grassroots effort absolutely is about President Obama. Right down to the structure and hand-out materials.
An organizing event was held Saturday at Yucca Park in the Valley that featured about 30 hard-core volunteers who were organizing for health care reform. There were a few of the party regulars in attendance, like El Paso County Democratic Party Chair Danny Anchondo, former Party Chair Queta Fierro, and Congressman Reyes’ staffer Yvonne Escobar, but the core of the volunteers weren’t the party Old Guard, they were the Obamites. People who have been around the party for years, but haven’t been part of the leadership structure, or people who have been politically active but not active in the party like Daniel Baca, Ruth Williams, Isela Castanon-Williams, Jeanette Walker, Karen Powers, a former volunteer with state Rep. Joe Moody’s campaign.
The event was organized by the new Organizing for American head honcho in the area, Mike Apodaca. As I was there listening to people talk about why health care reform is so important to them and watching them get ready to circulate petitions in support of the President’s plan, my mind started to wander off on a tangent. Did you notice anything special about the majority of the names listed in the above paragraph?
Most of them are women. I guess I had this on my mind because of Commissioner Dan Haggerty’s quote in a local daily print publication in which he called a dispute between state Rep. Norma Chavez and a lobbyist for the County a “cat-fight.” Haggerty has made those kind of sexist remarks before, most recently in an update of county business in the Ray Pearson Forum last month. County Commissioner Veronica Escobar was having a little fun with Haggerty as he was taping his update and Haggerty joked, “This chick is running for County Judge…”
I almost spit out my Sunday morning menudo when I heard him say it. Here’s the funny thing about Haggerty, he apparently sees things differently when it comes to disputes between men. State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh and state Rep. Joe Pickett have a long-standing feud but not a peep from Haggerty. When its women, it’s a cat-fight, when its men, it’s a power struggle.
It's easy to point out the number of female elected officials that represent El Paso. Half of City Council are women and two of the four county commissioners are women along with two of the state representatives.
But dig a little deeper and you will get an idea of just how much power women have in El Paso. The city reps have staff that is almost completely female; in fact, there are only two males staffers for city representatives. The pattern holds true for Commissioners' Court as well with only two male staffers.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized just how much women run politics in El Paso. El Paso being mostly Latino, women largely in charge in El Paso goes against the cultural stereotype of machismo. The stereotype says that Latino men are so insecure and ignorant that we refuse to give women their place in politics, business, and the home. First of all, it’s not our place to “give” anyone anything. Secondly, this stereotype couldn’t be more off-base.
Its easy to point at the staggering number of elected officials in the city, county, and state levels who are women, but El Paso Political Girl Power goes much deeper than that. Go to any Democratic Party function or activity and you will see that women outnumber men. Most party activists are women and most precinct chairs are women. In the Camino Real Mexican-American Democrats, one of the main Democratic Party Clubs in town, all of the officers of the club are women.
Even on the Republican side of politics, the key figure behind the conservative grassroots movement in El Paso that organized the Tea Party Event was another woman, Genna Pendergrass -- no relation to Freddy as far as I know.
Even in the non-profit community you will find that efforts are largely driven by women. Just watch any event on television that highlights any kind of grassroots organizing in El Paso and you will see that women overwhelmingly outnumber men.
So I decided to call up a few of the female elected officials and Democratic Party leaders to ask about the fact that El Paso runs so contrary to the stereotype of machismo.
State Rep. Norma Chavez says that women showing their power in El Paso politics is not a new phenomenon. “Historically women have made up a majority of voters in El Paso since 1997…all things being equal, women will tend to support other women.” Chavez also goes on to point out that women supporting other women transcends party affiliation. “Many people forget that George Bush wasn’t the first Republican to carry El Paso, it was Kay Bailey-Hutchison and she obviously received a lot of cross-over support from Democratic women.”
Actually, Chavez had a lot to say about this issue. “The machismo stereotype has been glamorized both here and in Mexico with mariachi songs like El Rey…(but) Latino culture has always had a strong female role. The matriarch of the family makes the decisions and is the heart of the family.”
According to state Rep. Marisa Marquez the fact that El Paso seems to buck the stereotype is something that is not unique to El Paso. Marquez says “This is a trend nationwide and culturally. Women are putting career and community before their personal lives.”
Lily Ruiz, longtime Democratic Party activist and Chair of the Camino Real Mexican-American Democrats says that men still have a long way to go and that most of the major power-holding positions like Congress, state senator, county judge, and mayor are held by men. A valid point, though it can be argued that the mayor’s position isn’t that much of a power anymore given that the mayor only votes in the event of a tie and even the mayor’s power is overshadowed by the city manager, who is also a female.
The trend of females in leadership positions is going to continue to rise. Though there are a few exceptions here and there the pattern is that females in a race generally win the election in El Paso.
I guess the wisdom of another old mariachi song holds true, “La Reina es El Rey.”
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Abeytia writes the Lionstar blog and is a political animal who spends way too much time traveling the wilds of El Paso politics. Reach him at lionstar@thelionstarblog.com.
