By: Patria Julnes

Patria Julnes — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:20:05 +0000

Great article.
But I think the person who wrote the first comment as well as millions of Americans (and Obama himself when campaigning) had the unrealistic expectation that a president could change it all by himself and at once! Our system of checks and balances doesn’t allow for that to happen. It’s a painful realization that Obama himself has come to live in carne propia. Yes, there is desencanto; but unfortunately that desencanto is targeted to the wrong person, the wrong American government institution…

By: Mona AlvaradoFrazier

Mona AlvaradoFrazier — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 16:35:40 +0000

Great article and questions. My thoughts:
“…each question reveals that these Americans are struggling with desencanto, a disillusionment born of a broken spell.” I believe the desencanto also comes from a belief that Obama was someone who, because of his single parent childhood, minority status,grass roots affiliations, etc., could identify with Latinos and other minorities…he achieved the American Dream, he’s somehow like us.
Add to that his oratorical prose of Yes We Can that is very close to Si Se Puede. It carries the meaning of a historical struggle of the underclass and is a rallying cry for change. The slogan carries with it the connotation of a fighter.
The desencanto then comes from a failure to fight, to make the promised change. His actions are construed as weak, sin ganas, and that adds to the desencanto. We wonder then did we make the wrong choice, is he like every other politician, and we get angry and further disillusioned with not only Obama but also all politicians and government.
We have to see a fighter, see action behind promises, he has to win a few rounds before any trust can be restored or else rhetoric will fall on deaf ears.

Comments on: In HuffPo Latino Voices: “The Gran Desencanto”

By: Patria Julnes

By: Mona AlvaradoFrazier