BLOG: Bustamante, MEChA, Race, and the Recall
I think it's fair to question, as Hugh Hewitt and Michelle Malkin do, why the media have been tepid in pressing Cruz Bustamante about the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan. I think it's also fair to demand, as Mickey Kaus, Tacitus, and Instapundit do in varying degrees, that Bustamante distance himself from the organization.
But there are other aspects of this issue worth exploring, of which one is: what possible political dynamics could be at play? Specifically, setting aside for the moment how he truly feels about MEChA a couple of decades removed from student activism, could Bustamante be using the controversy to energize Latino voters? I recognize that not every Mexican American, Chicano, and Latino sympathizes with MEChA, and indeed, a significant number probably finds the group reprehensible. But understand the other factors at work. Race-based organizations such as the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund have called for the postponement of the election , because the consolidation of polling locations and the employment of few bilingual poll workers, among other potential problems, will allegedly disenfranchise minority voters. The Racial Privacy Initiative, which these same groups oppose, will be on the ballot. Arnold Schwarzenegger has gone public with his support for Proposition 187, and Pete Wilson co-chairs his campaign.
In other words, Bustamante may be sensing a way to build momentum for his effort to become the first Latino governor in nearly 120 years . He might not be thrusting his ethnicity onto the masses, but as "angry conservatives" bring up his ties to an ethnic organization that supposedly "provide[s] student leadership ," he may take the opportunity to stand with "la raza." He won't be so close to MEChA that he alienates mainstream supporters, but he could be close enough to pump up his Latino base, considering all the other race angles of the recall.
In this light, conservatives may want to be somewhat cautious about pushing the issue. There's potential for backlash, despite the extremism of MEChA
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