Latinos won’t back Obama? No es verdad!

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Political conventional wisdom maintains that Sen. Barack Obama is going to have trouble winning ‘Latino’ votes because of historical tensions between African Americans and Spanish-speaking Americans.

But that conventional wisdom doesn’t seem so wise after last weekend’s endorsement of Obama’s candidacy by Los Angeles-based La Opinión, the largest Spanish-language newspaper in the United States. In its editorial endorsement, the paper praised Obama’s Democratic opponent, Sen. Hillary Clinton, as ‘capable, competent, disciplined and hard-working.’ But it opined that Obama ‘is the right leader for the time.’

The issue of Obama’s ability to attract Latino voters gets thoughtfully scrutinized in this Time magazine piece by Gregory Rodriguez and in this NPR ‘All Things Considered’ commentary by journalist-blogger Daniel Hernandez. La Opinión, by the way, also endorsed Republican John McCain, particularly citing the Arizona senator’s support for immigration reform -- a stance that has earned McCain the wrath of many fellow Republicans, some of whom recently expressed their displeasure in these posts to La Plaza.

-- Reed Johnson in Mexico City