McCain's Speech Makes Big News; Commitment to Pass Comprehensive Immigration Reforms

Last night I posted my thoughts about the Obama and McCain speeches to LULAC. Here's how two reporters who were actually there in the room saw it!

First, The New York Times found McCain's comments about immigration reform to be quite newsworthy. Giving it a feel-good headline: McCain tells Hispanic group of his commitment to immigration reform

Second, Dana Milbank of The Washington Post had a funny review of the Obama and McCain LULAC speeches, summing it up by calling both big panderers. Parity of pandering. He had at least one McCain quote that made McCain's speech seem quite personal (somewhat in contrast to my perception that Obama had a more personal speech).

Milbank also posted an awesome, humorous video from the LULAC event to the WPost site that mirrors the column in the paper today. Check it out here!

Obama's Powerful, Personal Speech to LULAC

I don't care what you thought was going to happen with Obama and the Hispanic vote during the Democratic primaries (many of you thought the strong Clinton support meant Obama couldn't earn Hispanic support in the general election). Polls have proven skeptics of Obama's support in the Hispanic community wrong quite rapidly.

Today he took another step forward in taking up the title of the candidate for the Hispanic community. He gave a powerful, personal speech. He demonstrated he knows Hispanic community organization issues, knows LULAC (a pillar organization in the community for decades) and that he's ready to lead the nation with the Hispanic community in mind each day. That's powerful not only for a Democratic politician, but also for an African American politician.

Check out his speech from today and the audience's response. Powerful. Personal. Real.



I've carefully examined the speeches of both candidates today. And I shared some of my thoughts briefly in a big interivew on XM Satellite Radio's POTUS '08 this afternoon.

McCain's speech was much less personal, and really a recitation of policy proposals and priorities he has put out the last few weeks and months. He had some personal thoughts in the closing paragraphs, but the difference was stark.

The Hill posted excerpts from McCain's speech. They sound good, but gosh I don't see the personal passion and excitement. Maybe I just don't know McCain well enough. Check it out here and judge for yourself:



I'd love to help McCain develop a more powerful, personal message to the Hispanic community-based organizations and the community more generally. He deserves to be able to communicate better with this community, one he cares about.

Sure the Hispanic community cares about the same issues as the general electorate, but they also want to know how candidates connect to Latinos as a community and personally. And the way Obama speaks about immigration seems much more natural, less parsed. McCain has got to do better when he speaks to NCLR (La Raza) in San Diego about a week from now.

I'd love to expand upon these quick thoughts, and I hope to in the near future.