Mitt Romney, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, is reportedly in the final stages of selecting a running mate. And he reportedly is down to three candidates on his short list for the number two spot on the ticket. They include former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, Ohio Senator Rob Portman, and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. As they undergo the required vetting process, one question that remains is, what are their records on racial issues? Their statements and policies provide some clues.
On the surface at least, Pawlenty and Portman appear to be the stereotypical “white bread” or vanilla-flavored candidates, offering little controversy or few potentially eyebrow-raising items in their resume. And little excitement as well. Presumably, that is a good thing for the Romney camp, given the problems Sen. John McCain faced with his running mate, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in the 2008 match-up with Obama and Biden.
With regard to immigration reform, an issue viewed in the Latino community as a proxy for anti-Latino sentiment, Pawlenty likened the need for immigration enforcement to New York cleaning up its streets. “It’s analogous in some ways to what was happening in New York not long ago. If you allow people to pee on the sidewalks, next they’re snatching purses,” he said.
“I’m not one to question Obama’s birth certificate,” Pawlenty said at a Tea Party rally in Boston last year, responding to claims that the president was not born in the U.S. “But sometimes when I see his policies I wonder what planet he’s from.”
Meanwhile, Portman — a solid conservative and former Bush budget director who has been labeled as the “anti-Palin” for his temperament and wonkishness — has expressed reservations with the Employee Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA. Portman was concerned that the legislation, which would forbid employers from firing someone for their gender identity or sexual orientation, would make businesses uncomfortable and lead to too many lawsuits. “What I’m concerned about in Paycheck Fairness and other legislation like that is the fact that it will spawn a lot of litigation the way the legislation is written,” the Senator said. Although he Portman said no one should discriminate, he worried that the legislation “would make it more difficult for employers to feel comfortable.”
Meanwhile, Bobby Jindal — despite his lackluster performance countering the president’s 2009 State of the Union-type address on the economy — provides the most colorful presentation in terms of ethnic background and record. Jindal also appears to offer the most problematic vice presidential candidacy of these three frontrunners on racial issues. The first Indian-American governor, Jindal is, not unlike South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who is of Sikh descent, a poster child for the Republican Party’s vision of a post-racial conservative America. And as such, they would downplay their racial background and espouse the policies of white conservatives in order to ascend the ranks of the GOP.
Gov. Jindal, the CEO of a state in the deep South, not to mention a state in which 40 percent once voted for Klan leader David Duke, appears uncomfortable with his own racial and ethnic identity. Touted as the Republican Obama, Jindal felt it necessary to disclose his birth certificate to prove his citizenship. The birther movement in Jindal’s party has used the concept of a citizenship test to alienate and hold in suspicion President Obama and other Americans of color. Further, Jindal changed his Indian name as a child, and converted from Hinduism to Christianity.
Critics point to his support for ALEC-sponsored education reform, which is turning Louisiana’s public schools into the nation’s most privatized system — with an extensive voucher program that defunds public schools and ultimately hurts the poor, black and brown students it purports to help. ALEC, or the American Legislative Exchange Council, came under fire earlier this year for its support of stand your ground laws and voter ID legislation that civil rights advocates say will disenfranchise millions of voters of color.
Last year, Jindal was accused of discriminating against minority students for the sake of saving some money when he unveiled a plan to merge historically black Southern University with the predominantly white University of New Orleans.
In addition, Jindal praised Harry Lee, the sheriff of Jefferson Parish, and a Chinese-American lawman accused of a pattern of racial profiling against blacks in the predominantly white parish.
Romney’s pick of a running mate comes at a time when the Republicans’ minority outreach efforts face an uphill battle even within the party. Coming off the heels of a decidedly hard right GOP primary season, Romney may have further pandered to the Republican base when his rebuke of Obamacare earned him jeers at the recent NAACP convention in Houston. Yet, certainly this could not have improved his standing among blacks and Latinos, or moderate independent swing voters who may be turned off by a harsh stance regarding minorities. Moreover, perceived Republican racial insensitivity, and party orthodoxy on voter ID, immigration and other issues are not helping, particularly in the general election when candidates are expected to move to the center and broaden their appeal.
According to a recent Pew poll, Obama leads Romney 50-43 percent nationwide. And while Obama is trailing Romney among whites 40-54 percent, the president leads 91-4 percent among blacks, and 65-25 among Latinos. Perhaps no choice of GOP running mate could improve those odds, and maybe that is not the point. Nevertheless, whether Romney opts for a plain vanilla running mate, or chooses a darker shade of pale, that could make a strong statement in itself.
Follow David A. Love on Twitter at @davidalove