Just a few months ago Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson, who is Mexican-American, was well positioned as Gore's vice-presidential pick. In a matter of weeks, this former ambassador and Congressman found himself systematically dissected by the Republican members of Congress. With Los Alamos on fire in New Mexico, nature focused national attention on Richardson's department during the announcement that hard drives containing nuclear secrets had been lost. At the same time, gas prices were skyrocketing. Bill Richardson became a quick and easy scapegoat. Latino leaders called for apologies for how Richardson was treated. They rallied around the man who could someday be vice-president and therefore president.
Just as the energy of Richardson's crisis was winding down, Loretta Sanchez plans a bash at the Playboy mansion. Congresswoman Sanchez rode the wave of backlash against the ultra-conservative nativist policies that were so popular in 1996 California. She defeated Robert K. Dornan twice. He now has a talk show in Virginia where he shadows the Congresswoman's career. Typical of the political atmosphere Sanchez helped alleviate, Durnan has since blamed his loss on illegal ballots cast by Mexican immigrants and criminals. Sanchez defeated him by less than one thousand votes in 1996 and then captured more than half the votes in her district for the 1998 election.
As chair of Hispanic Unity USA, she heads an influential program whose aim is to register more Latino voters and encourage them to be more involved with politics. Most of the benefits of registering and creating politically active Latinos go to the Democratic Party. Because of her national popularity and her success in managing contributions to the party, Vice-President Al Gore rewarded her with a speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention and the position of vice-chair of the convention itself. Then Gore took away the vice-chair's ability to speak at the convention because she had scheduled a Hispanic Unity USA event at the Playboy mansion.
The reaction from the Democratic Party was disturbingly reminiscent of the policies and personal arrogance that tells minorities and women what is best for them and what their values should be. Too bad it's a political year. It would have been interesting to hear open dialogue on the ways women view different types of erotica and the businesses that back them. But we can't talk about that until Clinton's shadow disappears. I'm reminded of the first time I listened to a feminist explain how she wanted to control her own sexuality instead of being forced to be someone else's taboo. She went back and forth with another feminist who argued for those who have been victimized by that business. Usually that discussion never resolves itself. Of course, in this case, the Playboy Bunnies would not be making an appearance. So the objection was against the owner of the house and the fact that there were once exposed women in the hallways.
Regardless of your views on erotica and/or pornography, I believe that the general hypocrisy and the outrageous paternal arrogance of Al Gore giving a political lashing to Sanchez speaks volumes about the culture of presidential politics. Our own hypocrisies will show in faux-outrage at the hosting of this event at the Playboy mansion, the equivalent of a boycott, while not equally applying that judgement to other people. Are those people who are chastising Sanchez for her choice of venue also calling for boycotts of films that have actresses who have appeared in Playboy, or the men and women who have given legendary interviews with the magazine? Here are some of the people who could be boycotted for agreeing to appear within the pages of Playboy through interviews:
| John Lennon | Malcom X | Alex Haley | Sir Anthony Hopkins | Ingmar Bergman | Salvador Dali |
| Muhammed Ali | Martin Luther King Jr. | Princess Grace (Kelly) | Raquel Welch | Joan Baez | Muhammed Ali |
| Barbara Striesand | Kathleen Turner | Stephen Hawking | Dave Berry | Ralph Nader | Rush Limbaugh |
| Ayn Rand | Sir Sean Connery | Sammy Davis Jr. | Truman Capote | Ray Charles | Carroll O'Connor |
| Jimmy Carter | G. Gordon Liddy | Julie Andrews | Stephen King | Paul and Linda McCartney | Sally Field |
I have no doubt that planning this event in the wake of Clinton's libido was bad politics. Just yesterday a female fan publicly flashed the President for his birthday. Democrats have to worry about sexual politics like Republicans have to worry about ethnic politics. I certainly would have liked to see George W. Bush get the same treatment for speaking at Bob Jones University. Are the same arguments to justify that appearance being applied to the Congresswoman's event?
Gore's reaction was the worst kind of politics - hypocrisy. And then there are the silent members of the Latino community who defended Richardson and disappeared when Sanchez was disciplined by Gore. Sanchez is also known for switching from Republican to Democrat in the early nineties. Perhaps Gore should keep in mind that Loretta follows her convictions and not the party line. In a year when Republicans are trying to win Latino support and many people are suggesting that the Democrats have taken the Latino presence and vote for granted, they should think twice before they feel the need to put an influential Latina "in her place."
Discuss in the Forum: Democrat over-reaction or maintaining values?
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