Obama fails in Puerto Rico

Opinion: June 23, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

By Ed Morales

McClatchy-Tribune

In his visit to Puerto Rico, President Obama failed to address the major problems facing the island. At bottom, it seemed to be much more of an early campaign stop than an honest effort to grapple with these problems.

While Puerto Ricans were excited by the first official visit by a sitting U.S. president in about 50 years, Obama’s visit was cosmetic, not substantive.

He offered platitudes about striving local entrepreneurs and drew cheers by mentioning Puerto Rican national J.J. Barea, a player for the recently crowned NBA champion Dallas Mavericks. Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens by birth but cannot vote for president, yet they serve in the military, so Obama predictably praised Puerto Ricans in the armed forces.

The president did not go near discussing the serious civil rights violations and police brutality that have so marked protests on the island recently. Nor did he discuss Gov. Luis Fortuno’s pet project: a natural gas pipeline (called the gasoducto) that opponents claim will harm much of the island’s treasured ecosystem.

Obama did talk about stabilizing Puerto Rico’s economy, but he offered nothing concrete. And Puerto Rico’s economy has severe problems — high unemployment, lagging business investment, exploding crime rates — that can’t easily be compared to those of other U.S. states. The end of a longstanding tax break for corporations, combined with the effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement, has completely eroded the island’s income, and the local government has become the biggest employer.

Conservative pro-statehood Gov. Fortuno has imposed a heavy-handed solution for Puerto Rico’s fiscal woes: cut government jobs, privatize (and increase tuition costs at) the University of Puerto Rico and decimate the power of labor unions. These policies have accelerated a massive brain drain, as educated middle-class Puerto Ricans have emigrated in droves to places like Orlando, Fla. — so much so that Puerto Ricans living in the 50 states now outnumber those living on the island.

Voting bloc

Which brings us to the underlying reasons for Obama’s visit. The increase of middle-class Puerto Ricans in Florida has created a kind of counterweight to the largely Republican voting bloc of Cuban-Americans in that state. A key to Obama’s strategy for re-election is to make sure that Latinos in Florida vote Democratic. In addition, any visible attempt to address Latinos, such as in his trip to Puerto Rico, helps to deflect criticism over his lack of initiative in bringing about immigration reform.

Obama’s main takeaway from his visit was the $1 million or so he put into his re-election campaign coffers from a fundraiser during the visit.

But the people of Puerto Rico were left high and dry. They deserve more than platitudes and promises. They deserve more than four hours spent as a political advertisement for an incumbent president’s re-election campaign. They deserve more than being a mere afterthought in the American political system.

Ed Morales is the author of “Living in Spanglish.” He wrote this for Progressive Media Project, a source of liberal commentary on domestic and international issues; it is affiliated with The Progressive magazine. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.