Hot Sauce and Hillary Clinton
A lot has been said about what Hillary actually carries in her bag and if she actually carries anything in her bag. Tobasco? Tapatio? Sriracha? The accusations of pandering were wide spread but for good reason. A political campaign lives or dies by the optics that are presented to voters. Howard Dean was buried by a yell. Dan Quayle misspelled “potato” and ruined his chance for Presidency.
The fact is she does like hot sauce and jalapenos, but that’s not what’s important. What is important is the optics. Optics are what make politicians kiss your drooling babies, take pictures with veterans they voted against, and eat at greasy diners with townies. Most of us groan at how inauthentic it is. So why bring up hot sauce at all? It makes her more “likable”. More “personable”. Optics. Which is a really gross thing politicians have to do. (Especially Women in politics.) Hillary has a hard time being humanized. A big part of that is her being an Ivy League student and a former First Lady. She’s had a life that is alien to a majority of the people she’s trying to get votes from.
So when Hillary is invited to talk to black folks on a major black radio show and specifically brings up how much she loooooves hot sauce, even though it happens to be true, and makes her more “relatable”, sadly, it comes off as nothing more than pandering. It’s no different than Bill playing Sax on Arsenio. It’s deliberately meant to get voters to relate to you, but it is incredibly condescending when dealing with marginalized folks if not handled carefully and nothing has been handled carefully during this campaign. It’s like gushing about Selena after meeting a Latinx person.
You’re Latinx? OMG. I just LOVE Selena!
Cool…. Selena is wonderful, but is this what you think is important to earn my trust or support?
Optics are great at making politicians appear more human, but they’re also great at making us wonder things like; If Rachel Maddow had asked you what you carry in your bag on MSNBC, would your answer have been any different?
People of color don’t need you to perform. When you support policies that actually benefit people of color, you don’t need to pander.
It’s not about the damn hot sauce. It’s not about calling herself “abuela”. It’s not about her nay-nay on daytime tv. It’s not about her dancing to cumbias or norteno or bandas. It’s about passing through our communities posing as someone who understands, cares, and relates to our struggles when ultimately, the policies she has supported have been one of the major contributing factors to our struggles. You can’t help overthrow Honduras and call to deport refugee children and then call yourself “abuela” to Latinxs. You can’t brush off Black Lives Matter protesters when confronted about your crime bill, and then play dominos and ask for votes. You can’t bash candidates for voting against suing gun manufacturers, and then sell weapons to Saudi Arabia. You come off like a gentrified taco joint. Inauthentic.
