Dems should worry about Sarah Palin
Sept. 7 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Anyone who heard Sarah Palin's rousing speech at the GOP National Convention should now understand why Democrats have been trying to destroy her. And why, luckily for the country, they've failed.
You mess with a hockey mom – and even go after her family – and you're bound to lose some teeth.
Sept. 3 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Sarah Palin: A good choice for Republicans and the country: Never mind the naysayers and inside-the-Beltway snobs who mock John McCain's selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. This was a brilliant choice.
Aug. 31 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
McCain can win on issues: As the curtain rises on the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., it is clear that John McCain and his surrogates will do all they can to scare up a victory.
Aug. 27 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Immigrants and the best of us: Now that the flame has gone out on the Olympics in Beijing, it's worth taking a moment to applaud the U.S. Olympic team. Not only for dominating so many events and winning the most prizes overall – 110 medals, 36 gold – but also for winning the argument back home over the contributions of immigrants and their children.
Aug. 24 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Obama's huge task awaits: In Denver this week, Barack Obama will make history by becoming the first African-American presidential nominee of a major political party.
Aug. 20 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Foreign policy experience?: Hillary Clinton was right about one thing: This election has boiled down to a choice between change versus experience.
Aug. 17 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Obama must confront America's insecurities: While vacationing in his native Hawaii, Barack Obama said he wanted to enjoy some local cuisine – a plate lunch, shave ice, the noodle dish Zip Min – and relax with a little bodysurfing “at an undisclosed location.”
Aug. 13 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
A truly dumb idea on immigration: Have you ever seen a giant surrender? It's pretty pathetic. That's the word that comes to mind when a gargantuan government agency with more than 16,000 employees and a $5 billion annual budget suddenly throws up its hands and gives up on one of its major responsibilities.
Aug. 6 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Race: The elephant in the room: Barack Obama stands accused of introducing race into this election. Why, before Obama quipped that the McCain campaign had nothing to offer but fear of “the other” – and then implied that he was the other because he “doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills” – I bet no one had given race a thought.
Aug. 3 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Straight talk on affirmative action: I've written about affirmative action for more than 20 years. That is, if you start the clock back in high school when I felt compelled to write a term paper on the topic after classmates with poorer grades than mine suggested that I wouldn't have been accepted by Ivy League universities “if (I) hadn't been Mexican.”
July 30 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Let the immigration raids go on: In the immigration wars, you have to choose your battles carefully. Otherwise, you wind up preaching to the choir.
July 20 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Obama's message to Latinos: Barack Obama is looking for a way to convince Latino voters that he is simpatico. He may have found it thanks to the cover of The New Yorker.
July 16 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Americans' rush to avoid competition: Say what you want about the messenger, Americans had better heed the message. Maybe former Sen. Phil Gramm isn't the best person to make the case that much of America's economic gloom is self-inflicted. He's a Republican and, as far as many people are concerned, the GOP cares only about the rich.
July 13 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
A Hispanic hate group that isn't: Janet Murguía, the National Council of La Raza's president, says she has little use for those who pit groups against each other.
July 9 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Afraid of anything but English: The language wars flare up whenever insecure Americans worry that English is becoming passe.
July 6 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
McCain is unclear on immigration: Presidential candidates who seem to change positions as they change audiences should avoid accusing others of flip-flopping. It makes them look silly.
July 2 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Is ObamaAmerican enough?: Barack Obama celebrated the week of the Fourth of July trying to address critics who say he is insufficiently patriotic. In the process, Obama almost hit another home run. He sent one into the stands a few months ago with his speech on race. But this time, speaking from Independence, Mo., Obama came up short.
June 29 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Young people can slow immigration: When you grab hold of the thorny topic of immigration, sometimes you can't tell what part of the discussion will prick your finger.
June 25 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Getting along with our neighbors: TIJUANA – Mexico and the United States have a twisted relationship. Dysfunctional: Each country likes to blame the other for its problems, and neither is eager to accept responsibility. Making matters worse, history comes with hard feelings; the United States claimed it was “manifest destiny” to conquer half of Mexico in 1848.
June 18 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
A fond memory of 'the common man': Washington is mourning the death of Tim Russert, but the loss resonates far beyond the Potomac.
June 15 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Representing minorities in the military: The gloves are off. A short-fused septuagenarian with a decorated past is tangling with a brash young African-American who, while less accomplished, can take a punch and give one back. I'm speaking of – what else? – the rhetorical slugfest between filmmakers Clint Eastwood and Spike Lee.
June 11 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
The benefit of not being Mexican: Let me say a few words in defense of deporting illegal immigrants. I wouldn't have thought such a defense would be necessary, since being in the United States without proper documents is a crime and the penalty is deportation.
June 8 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Appealing to Latino voters: Some suggest that Barack Obama should pick Hillary Clinton as his running mate because she can help him do something he has trouble doing on his own: winning Latino votes.
June 4 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Obama sells out to politics: Say it ain't so. Barack Obama has worked hard over the last 18 months to convince Americans that he is the untraditional politician – immune to special interests, loyal to his faith, close to the people, guided by principle.
June 1 (UNION-TRIBUNE)
Those who will provide the answers: MERCED A commencement address should be uplifting and enlightening. Leave it to me to deliver one that was also inadvertently controversial because it touched upon a subject that some people don't feel comfortable discussing: gay marriage.
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| Ruben Navarrette Jr. |
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Ruben Navarrette Jr. is a nationally syndicated columnist with the Washington Post Writers Group. His twice weekly column appears in more than 175 newspapers. The second-generation Mexican-American is one of fewer than 10 Latino syndicated columnists in the United States, and one of the country's youngest syndicated columnists overall.
The two-time Harvard graduate is also an editorial writer and board member for The San Diego Union-Tribune. A former radio talk show host in three markets (Los Angeles, Phoenix and Fresno), he writes and records commentaries for National Public Radio's "Morning Edition." On television he is often called upon to discuss current affairs on CNN and on "The Newshour with Jim Lehrer" on PBS. He has also appeared on "Now with Bill Moyers," "The Chris Matthews Show" and "The O'Reilly Factor."
Navarrette's first book, "A Darker Shade of Crimson: Odyssey of a Harvard Chicano," was published to favorable reviews by Bantam Books in 1993, when the author was just 26 years old. In 2000, his essay, "Vindication" (about the difficulties encountered in attempting to launch his writing career) was selected from over 5,000 entries as one of the 101 contributions to "Chicken Soup for the Writer's Soul," an installment of the best-selling "Chicken Soup for the Soul" series.
Navarrette is a native of California's San Joaquin Valley.
He can be reached via e-mail at ruben.navarrette@
uniontrib.com.
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