Political Tongues

The 2009 Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Business Expo opened with a gala breakfast on Thursday, August 6th and I was able to attend as a guest of possibly the greatest Certified Public Accountant who ever put numbers in a column, Mr. Enrique Lopez. The breakfast was hosted in the Historic Grand Ballroom on Navy Pier and the capacity crowd was teeming with true American entrepreneurial spirit, flavored with a Hispanic zest.
The Master of Ceremonies was ABC 7’s John Garcia, whose surname would certainly lend him credibility in Hispanic circles… until he attempts to speak Spanish. Not to be too critical, but his Spanish is worse than mine and that’s not “bueno.”
Garcia was rescued by an All-star panel of Hispanic community leaders that included Marty Castro, AETNA’s Vice President of External Affairs and Omar Duque, CEO of the IHCC.
Even more impressive stints on the dais were made by Chicago’s political powerhouses; Mayor Richard M. Daley, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias and Illinois 4th District Congressman Luis Gutierrez. While all are absolutely known as voices for the Hispanic population, only one is known to actually speak Spanish.
The entire world knows that Mayor Daley speaks only one language - “Chicago.” It’s unmistakable in tone and text. His Chicagoese is a common sense vernacular that won’t win praise from diction and elocution coaches, but it speaks straight to hearts clogged with Italian beef that pound proud with diehard love of their sports teams. Mayor Daley talked about our rugged economy and how pundits predicting a quick turnaround should do so with extreme caution. “It’s gonna be flat for a while,” he said. The Mayor’s message that Chicago will survive and even thrive needed no translation.
Governor Quinn is another orator whose words come from the heart and he gave strong encouragement for the path to citizenship for those “undocumented” individuals fighting in our Armed Forces overseas as an American right of passage.
Congressman Gutierrez got the biggest chuckle of the day when he said he dreamed of being the CEO of a bank when he retired from politics. His mission he said would be to work on the bank’s automated voicemail. Anyone calling a bank these days is treated to a voice that prompts you to punch a number for the language in which you prefer to do business. Gutierrez says when he’s in charge, a heavily accented Hispanic voice will say; “For ING-lesh, paleez perez wan!” This is in response to the tightest Caucasian recorded banker voices currently booming “PAIR-a Esp-AN-yo, press DOSE.” My unilingual writing doesn’t do the quip justice, but in live time it had everyone busting out with a laugh.
Alexi Giannoulias, the proud son of Greek immigrants, stole the show when it came to reaching the audience. While others, even Hispanics, stumbled over some well meant greetings in Spanish, the Illinois Senate candidate spoke flawless in the native tongue of many of the members of the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce crowd.
It’s not certain if Giannoulias had a crash course with Rosetta Stone or was inspired after a trip to Las Pinata on Wells Street. Either way, his Spanish edification and articulation were prefect. Proof was found in the nodding heads of the nine Spanish speaking people at the table I was a guest. Other non-Spanish speakers’ fumbled attempts to linguistically blend were met with light laughter. Giannoulias was a Greek turned Guatemalan for a day. It was a defining moment that said, “I am part of your community” and Giannoulias scored big.
So why were the political elite in attendance? The Hispanic vote is a strong and influential one. According to the Pew Hispanic Center; “Illinois's Hispanic population is the fifth-largest in the nation. Nearly 1.9 million Hispanics reside in Illinois, 4% of all Hispanics in the United States. There are over 708,000 eligible Hispanic voters in Illinois, 4% of all U.S. Hispanic eligible voters.”
Giannoulias will need those 708,000 votes in a contest that promises to be a bullfight for the Illinois U.S. Senate seat currently being warmed by Roland Burris, whose next major political decision is if he should chisel an asterisk on his mausoleum. The charismatic, young Democrat Giannoulias will most likely face centrist Republican and U.S. Navy veteran, 10th District Congressman Mark Kirk.
The primary will be held February 2, 2010. So far Giannoulias’ most notable challenger is Cheryle Jackson from the Urban League. The advantage of money favors Giannoulias as well as the endorsement of 85 elected officials to date. Those endorsements include leaders who represent the 43rd Ward including U.S. Congressman Mike Quigley, Illinois Senate President John Cullerton and State Senator Kwame Raoul.
In any language and with any accent and by pressing any button you prefer, Giannoulias’ support from of multi-cultural voter bases makes him “Primero Uno.”