Mitt Romney, the first Mexican-American president?
(Read article summary)With a father who was born in Mexico and a son who lived in Chile and is fluent in Spanish, Mitt Romney has a compelling story to tell to Latino voters, some experts say.
Los Angeles
Surely, the question from the anchor of a Spanish-language network to Mitt Romney was at least partly tongue-in-cheek:
Considering that Mr. Romney's father was born in Mexico, would that allow the candidate to claim a Mexican-American heritage and dub himself the first Hispanic president, asked Jorge Ramos of Univision TV.
Predictably, Romney laughed it off.
“I would love to be able to convince people of that, particularly in a Florida primary,” where Cuban-American voters could play a decisive role, Romney said. “I think that might be disingenuous on my part.”
But the question was an interesting one, not least because it was asked by a Hispanic news outlet. True, the elder Romney, whose parents were missionaries, was not a Mexican citizen and left Mexico at age 5. Romney the candidate doesn't even speak Spanish.
His son does, however – and fluently, having spent time in Chile as a Mormon missionary. He has even narrated Spanish-language ads for his father and addressed crowds by his dad’s side on the campaign trail in Florida. And the Romney clan does have that connection to their patriarch's birthplace in Chihuahua, Mexico.
