American Girl Dolls

This photo is from the NY Times website. I am speechless.

Spain WON!!!!! (Spain is in the FINAL!!!!)

Sunday:

WE WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1-0.

It was an awesome game, the Spanish had a strategy and they played as a team. As a born-again footballer, I was mesmerized. And yet again, the whole nationalist frenzy attached to rooting for one's team led me to consider the parallels between the game and Miss Universe. Loved it! And I also ask everyone why it is that people are so rabidly nationalistic about their teams yet so many of the players hail from other countries? 

It was Spain's second win and the first was in 1964, when they beat the USSR. Franco had refused to give out the prize to avoid possibly having to award it to the Communist enemies of his dictatorship. It was a big propaganda coup for the "25 Years of Peace" campaign, Franco felt vindicated after decades of claiming that it was the contubernio Judeo-Masonico-Marxista that led him to volunteer to defend Spain from these three dangers. Today, Zapatero pointedly stated that he was the first democratic Prime Minister to witness a Spanish victory. Nice. 

________________________________________________________

I am looking forward to the game on Sunday, when Spain will defeat Germany.

Until then, a football fan far more schooled than I could ever be has shared this:



if you want the specialist point of view go to

http://www.vivalasuperliga.com/

Puerto Rican Female Impersonator Interviews Hector Lavoe, 1984

I died and went to heaven when my Boricua friends introduced me to Cuca Gomez, who had her own TV show in the 1980s, after I departed the Island. Here she is in all her splendor, interviewing salsa legend Hector Lavoe, who gamely plays along with her drag act. FABULOUS!!!!!!!!

Merengue Cristiano

I discovered the joys of local TV watching in PR. There is a show called "No te duermas" which is basically a hybrid dance party/chat show/soft porn spectacular. Reguetoneros and musicians of various local musical forms play while practically nude women gyrate in g-strings. The Puerto Rican neutrals are of course very much in evidence, as are massive coolans with lots of cellulite, extremely lengthy acrylic nails, bootleg weaves and unnatural hair dyes, and heels of stratospheric heights. Bizarrely, a Christian Merenguero called Tu Amigo Miguelito chose this venue for an interview. Apparently, this is a very popular genre as is salsa cristiana. 

Ingrid Marie Bombs at the National Costume Competition

It's one of my favorite times of year: Miss Universe!!!!!! This year, I will be in Spain and won't be able to host my Second Annual Miss Universe Watching Soiree to which you must come in your country's national costume, or don that of another country you love. While in PR I noted the complete and constant coverage given to each day's activities in the days prior to the contest. Ingrid Marie donned "Taino" garb as her National Costume. It looked more like a West Indian Carnival outfit and I don't think we know what the Tainos wore, but we can guess that women went topless. Meanwhile, there was some bochinche about dueling Ingrid Marie handlers - she disliked her manager's mediocre work vis a vis the media, and another man on her team also argued with this woman. This man was interviewed in a local TV show "Te Lo Vendo Al Costo" and he was INSOLITO. First of all, he was wearing a polyester pinstriped shiny suit with pointy shoes and he kept saying that he was FUSTRADO (like saying one is FUSTRATED) by the situation. This can only cause me to feel dread about the people taking care of her in Vietnam. This would not happen to the Cisneros-led Miss Venezuela organization. However, here is the good news: a local Vietnamese paper singled Ingrid Marie as one of three front runners and Miss Venezuela is not pretty. So maybe we have a chance.

WTF Plaza las Americas

My first visit to Plaza las Americas in years took place last night. It is, allegedly, the largest shopping mall in Latin America (or, at least, in the Caribbean region). It has gone decidedly upscale which doesn't quite score with the minus zero GNP of the Island - according to the CIA and they should know, below Haiti! - and the Island's rank as lowest income level in the USA. You wouldn't necessarily have to go to the so-called Mainland or to Spain to shop since they have MAC, Kiehl's, Custo, Tous, Coach, Brooks Brothers, Agata Ruiz de la Prada, GAP, etc. The logo for the mall is the three sails of Columbus' boats, a nice metaphor for the imperial arrival of culture and commerce. These sails re-appear within the mall.




This mall has Valet Parking, a nice touch given the extreme heat, the massive size of the parking lot, and locals' fear of crime. To wit, there are guard towers in the lot itself.



Similar ones are found in supermarket or drug store parking lots. It feels good to know you are covered by an armed guard when you return to your car loaded down with maxi pads and batteries.

The shoestores are some of my favorite things -- women apparently do not wear heels under 4 inches here. And the Puerto Rican Neutrals are very much in evidence. In fact, many shoes contain several of these neutral elements at once (see photo) - metallic, animal print, patent, sequins or stones, etc.

Real News - Puerto Rican Names

Here I am back in Puerto Rico where I will soon resemble Mama Cass if I don't stop eating mofongo, frituras, asopao, pan sobao, flan, and much more, and I have been given a crash course in local pop culture by friends far less deracinated than me. I will send more posts soon including updates on Ingrid Marie's performance in Vietnam at Miss Universe, born-again clean and sober merengueros, scantily clad women on late night chat shows, Afro-Puerto Rican female impersonators and much much more.....but for now, let me add some names to the roster of shall we say unusual or original monikers favored by my people.

The following list emerged during a dinner party at which the guests began to recall friends', class mates, and coworkers names. To my Boricua readers out there, please send in more names!!!!!!

Migda Lys
Yadmarie
Marangelie (alternate form: Maranjelie)
Maria Iberdinia (known fondly as Ibesita)
Charyl
Ilvin (man's name)
Ladivina
Zorileana
Criseta
Jina (yes, Gina pronounced in Spanish with the j making the g sound)
Yomarie (not, yo' Marie)
Yolimar
Yolitza (I am going to the courthouse to change my name right now!)
Lady (this, I was told, is a Cuban name, and is pronounced in English Laahdee)
Avis (Aaahveees, yes, it's from the car company)
Abdiel (man's name)
Yesenia
Yenitza
Yalis
Zainit
Yelil (man's name)
Dewit (man's name)
Ladis Nilet
Zuaniahy (a Taino name, ladies and gentlemen)

And sorry about the missing accents, use your imagination, but the freaking computer is Anglo-centric and I am too stupid to figure out how to change the keyboard to Spanish. Because I have a PhD which of course guarantees that I have no common sense for everyday tasks. Obvio.

Miscellaneous observations

I've been super busy writing an article and getting prepared for a trip to Puerto Rico -- that will surely generate plenty of Real News, WTF? and perhaps even My Life is a Telenovela posts -- but in the meantime, a few observations:

1. Tim Russert: Very tragic and makes everyone I know regret that we won't have his point of view for this pivotal election. It also led to a number of conversations where friends of mine and I commiserated about our fears that if we continue to be workaholics we too will drop dead of heart attacks young. I found it moving to see the human side of the "liberal media" (because the people on FOX are completely out of the park when it comes to any expectations of human empathy or decency), to observe collegiality and even friendships across competing networks and cable outlets. However, why is it that prominent men, even my beloved Obama, fetishize the FATHER -SON relationship and ignore the mothers? 

2. Al Gore is endorsing Obama today. What took him so long? HRC conceded with as much good grace as she could muster many days ago! Even the NY Delegation stepped up the day after Obama got the requisite number of delegates. Does anyone else find this problematic? 

It Wasn't Me, I Swear!

Today the New York Times launched a new etiquette / ethics column in the STYLE section, Social Q's. I just wanted to let my readers, all five of you, know that the question below was not sent in by me. Although you may have read my post a few weeks ago under My Life is a Telenovela, regarding the advice I was getting to look into J Date and my misgivings about this, I did not in fact go there. But I empathize with the lovelorn but dishonest shiksa below. My real-life introductions to Jewish dream boats or alleged dream boats have ended in disappointment. (see below under My Life is a Telenovela) 

They have dampened my enthusiasm for set ups and on-line dating. As have my experiences with set-ups orchestrated in part via Facebook - "do you think he is cute?" "he thinks you are cute." The key difference being that MY profile photo reflects my appearance truthfully. Why do men think they are going to fool you with photos of them that are 20 years old, dating from when they had hair or what have you? It's not like you will be fooled for long, once you see them, as was my case when I met an ill-fated Match.com date, you realize they are dishonest schmucks who are wasting my time......And don't even bother to add the Facebook application "Are you interested?" I got a guy who looks like a James Bond movie villain hailing from Dubai, and a seventeen year old. 

SOCIAL Q’S
LieDate.Com

By PHILIP GALANES
Published: June 15, 2008
A few months ago, I met my boyfriend on JDate, a dating site for Jewish singles. He assumed I was Jewish, and I didn’t correct him when I had the chance. Now I’m afraid that if I tell him, he’s going to dump me. What do I do? I really like this guy, but it’s getting weird. C.T., Brooklyn


Christoph Niemann
In case you hadn’t noticed, there’s a wee difference between letting an awkward moment pass and masquerading for several months as someone you’re not. Where to next, Gay.com?

All denominations are welcome on JDate, but the local custom is for non-Jews to identify themselves as such. And you can’t create a profile without answering questions about your Judaism.

So I don’t believe you simply “failed to correct” your boyfriend. You lied, having calculated that he might not like the truth.

I suggest clearing the air as soon as possible: Sit him down and apologize. You can explain that you were feeling vulnerable when you lied, but be careful not to let that sound like an excuse or, worse, an attempt to shift the blame to him for making you feel that way. Remember, you’ll be one short step away from “freak show” when you finally come clean, and you still must convince him that the lie was an aberration. He may be furious, or decide you’re too manipulative to date, but there’s a chance he’ll be flattered by the lengths you went to win him over. And who knows? He may have a whopper to get off his chest, too.


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/fashion/15social.html?ex=1371096000&en=5a8224fe37cda238&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Obama doll produced in Germany

Hattie McDaniel "I'd rather play a maid than be one."

My mind went to the mammies and maids in "Gone With the Wind" after seeing "Sex & the City." I realized that Carrie's assistant played by the fierce and gorgeous Jennifer Hudson, is the first and only African-American/African-descent/woman of color in the film. In the series, the only woman of color was Sonia Braga. In keeping with the old European sexist/racist/Orientalist trope: one woman in the pair is fair - Samantha, and the sexually agressive one is racialized "dark" and "exotic." Which is not to say that I didn't find it satisfying to see my fantasy of having sex w/ the incredibly hot Braga played out on screen, but I'm just saying. And is it just me, or did none of them ever date or sleep with a man of color, not African American, nor Latino, or Asian! In two instances was this possibility raised: on the Fleet Week episode, and in the Samantha feeling like she's too old to be player episode where she dates the tragically short man with the massive tool. In the latter, Samantha feels she has hit rock bottom after an Asian bus boy (South Asian?) comes on to her. In the former, Carrie for the only time in the entire series, refuses to go home with, indeed even make out with a gorgeous black man in uniform. Why did she choose this particular instance as the one in which to draw the line? Was inter-racial dating or even an inter-racial one-night-stand considered too risque for Sex & the City? Why were there never any people of color - not even us Latinos (or "Hispanic.....Americans...." as Obama haltingly referred to them, but I digress), appeared in the series. And why are the only two Asians of the female gender my idol Margaret Cho in a genius cameo as the fashion show coordinator the time Carrie falls on the runway, and little Lily (hmm, why not call her Jade or Bamboo?), the Chinese baby adopted by Charlotte? 

CORRECTION: Apparently I missed an episode of Sex & the City - call CNN - and in it, Samantha was dating an African American man but the man's sister vetoed it. How fabulous is it that my shrink is the one who told me? So when I say I had Closure after watching Sex & the City: the Movie, I wasn't joking. And again, it was Samantha who had an interaction with a person of color - another friend reminded me that Lucy Liu, playing herself, was the client that Samantha lost when she used her name to score a Birkin bag. Finally (if any of my lovely handful of readers remembers any more, please comment!) Miranda not only had sex with her very sexy neighbor, an African-American doctor, but she also got helpful advice on how to make her baby stop crying from an African-American neighbor who called her out on never saying hello. (the latter reminds me of the difference between living in lower Manhattan and living in certain parts of Brooklyn: in the latter areas, people are integrated, and people greet each other politely)

True love waits

Today I read about a line of K-MART sweats for women only (naturally, women are the harlots that provoke men to acts of lust they cannot control, right?). These tacky pants are decorated with a pro-abstinence slogan. For about 17 bucks you too can wear these alarmingly low-rise lounge pants anywhere (note the gendered discourse at work in the advertisement copy) you want to share your repression with the world! I love how the slogan is in the front and the back. Nice, in case your man tries the front and the back door, or in case he has the attention span of a fruit fly, he'll know the score! 

Here is the priceless copy from K-MART's website:

Whether she is lounging around the house, going to practice, or doing her chores. These soft athletic style crop pants will keep her comfy. Perfect for wearing with her favorite sweatshirt or tee. These athletic pants boldly proclaim just where she stands by pointing out that "True Love Waits" in a large screen print on the front and back of these pants.

Drawstring waist
Bold abstinence screen print
Elastic cuffs. Cotton/Polyester blend
Machine washable
Imported

CHE Chotchkes / CHE chucherias

I really love this one, and if you saw my earlier post about the Hugo Chavez doll, imagine how much fun it would be to play Barbies with the two of them!!! But doesn't he look more like one of the dudes from "Planet of the Apes" more than Che?

Every girl needs a little Che in her chocha.

for more chechucherias see: 
http://gawker.com/tag/dress-for-the-revolution/?i=395292&t=che-for-sale

Juan Gonzalez on the PR primary

Juan Gonzalez's excellent analysis of the situation down on the Island.

JUAN GONZALEZ
New York Daily News
Poor turnout in Puerto Rico primaries reflects island's ambivalence
Monday, June 2nd 2008, 4:00 AM

CAYEY, Puerto Rico - At the Miguel Melendez Muñoz High School in this mountain town near Puerto Rico's southern coast, a mere 150 of some 3,000 registered voters had shown up by 11 a.m.
Most were elderly, and more than a few had spent years living afuera (outside), the term Puerto Ricans use to refer to life in the U.S.

"I was in the South Bronx for 18 years," said Rosario Rodriguez Vazquez. "Even ran for Democratic committeeman there, so I never miss an election, and I'm with Hillary all the way."

Clinton registered an even bigger landslide win over Barack Obama here than preelection polls had predicted.
But there's another strong message that Puerto Rico's electorate sent to Washington. Despite all the attention and furor the Democratic presidential campaign has stirred in the 50 states, less than 15% of Puerto Rico's registered voters turned out.
Such numbers reveal the deep ambivalence many Puerto Ricans feel about their political relationship with the U.S. How else can you explain that close to 10,000 independence supporters marched noisily through Old San Juan yesterday calling for a boycott of the entire primary?

The small yet influential movement kept labeling the primary a colonial charade, then surprised everyone with the biggest political rally of the entire campaign.

You need look no further than New York's own Jose Rivera, Bronx assemblyman and chairman of the Bronx Democratic Party, to see how politically schizophrenic some Puerto Ricans have become.

All day Saturday, Rivera campaigned for Clinton. He rode with her in the same flatbed truck for eight grueling hours, urging Puerto Ricans to turn out to the polls. Then yesterday morning, he joined the massive protest against the primary.
"I don't see a contradiction," Rivera told me. "This whole contest between Hillary and Obama has forced everyone in the U.S. to pay attention to the issue of Puerto Rico's status. Maybe now it will finally get resolved."

Rivera means the more-than-century-old debate that dominates island politics but U.S. politicians continue to ignore: whether Puerto Rico will become the 51st state, an independent nation or remain in some other form of association with the U.S.
Rivera noted that Clinton received her only standing ovation Saturday night from some 6,000 attending a church service in Hato Rey when she pledged to resolve the island's status during her first White House term.

Obama has made similar promises. But he spent only a day here, missing an opportunity to shore up his poor support among Hispanics, which could hurt him in November. John McCain will make an even bigger push to win Latino votes than President Bush did four years ago.

Clinton won her landslide because at least she paid Puerto Ricans some attention.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/columnists/gonzalez/index.html

HRC still won't concede.......

I'm trying really hard to identify with HRC. I think of myself as an empathetic person. But maybe it's because I shut down when I regard someone else as narcissistic and therefore incapable of empathy for others? If she had won -which easily could have happened - how would I have felt? Now, I can empathize with her supporters, many of whom are dear friends or relatives. If I were in their position, I would feel frustrated, sad or angry. One family member and friend threaten to vote for McCain. I guess I can understand that, but had she won, I would have boycotted by not voting, rather than crossing to the other party. 

In any event, sadly, I don't see how both sides of the Democratic party can come together, I blame this on the Clintons' scorched earth campaign yet my HRC supporting friends claim it was Obama's fault. They say that even though he didn't make inflammatory comments against her, his surrogates did. Perhaps they lose the nuance that it might not be the same thing to have associates make improper remarks as to have the actual candidate make them herself? (even HRC's supporters don't seem to deny that she took it to a new level on that score) But I can see how this could be regarded as having it both ways - Obama took the high road while his associates played dirty to keep up with the Clintons. The worrisome thing is that both sides can't seem to even recognize the other's positions. Even me. 

I grew to loathe Clinton personally, which scares me, since I consider myself a feminist. Some think that in this race it was a litmus test - race trumps gender or the other way around. So did race trump gender for me? I think it was his platform - though I don't agree with all of it. I think (fear) that he is too conservative and I strongly disagree with his policy regarding immigration. However I admire his frankness in discussing race, agree with most of his domestic and foreign policy and find his demeanor admirable. And I do identify with him as a person of mixed race. I don't identify with HRC as a woman just like I don't identify with Margaret Thatcher, Condi Rice or other conservative women as women. To me they're working for the other side, regardless of anatomy, even when I can respect the fact that they are strong enough to succeed regardless of the sexism that persists in the US and everywhere else. That's where I can empathize with Sen. Clinton, even though I strongly disagree with many of her views, and especially with the ways in which she conducts the campaign and now, her defeat.

On a personal note, I can empathize with Clinton's refusal to concede defeat in one way: I am striving to refuse to concede defeat in my search for a healthy relationship. Yes, this is trivial in comparison to the search for the next leader of the so-called free world, but it takes up as much of my time as following this fascinating, frustrating and ultimately unsatisfying campaign. Like Clinton, I threw myself into my campaign in earnest a year and a half ago and like her, I had moments where I thought I was "winning." All signs pointed to a rise in my "polling data." I was introduced to promising men by mutual friends. And in just 4 months, on two different on-line dating sites, I have tracked the hundreds of men who have been interested enough to look at my profile.  As a campaigner, the last thing you want is to lose them at hello, you want them to at least read your platform! 

And the polling numbers themselves were encouraging - the alleged straight man shortage in NY appeared to be a mirage as I saw the numbers ticking upwards. They are out there, it's just that in my daily life I don't meet them, I told myself. Winks, emails, calls, a date or two, and I saw that they are just like the flesh and blood men that I also met during this time - they seem interested, they appear to seek you out, then they disappear. They say they will call, but they do not. They claim they want to get to know you, but they don't. To put it bluntly: they send mixed messages, or to put it plainly, they lie. On line as in real life, they are juggling more than one woman at once, hedging their bets. In that way, I did feel more empowered since I tried out contacting more than one person at a time, the better to up my chances of meeting one that I was compatible with. 

As in real life, I found that my admittedly exacting criteria for an ideal partner is hard to find on-line. Few men seemed to have higher education, very liberal political views, an interest in travel, a down-to-earth sense of humor, intellectual interests leavened by a love for pop culture and campy stuff, to list just a few. I was contacted by probably a hundred men or more - I had to disable the email link because my inbox was cluttered with these messages every other day - the vast majority of which I was not interested in for specific reasons. Yet I tried to be open-minded, meeting men whose politics were far to the right of mine, or whose interests were not as close of a match as I would have liked, for example. 

All of this time, I have viewed  Obama as an ideal version of the man I would like, though I fear that he is not as comfortable with un-PC, trashy, or campy pop culture as I would prefer. And it also concerns me that the fabulous Michelle Obama had to quit her high-powered job to support his. At the end of the day, like HRC, I refuse to concede, for now. And like HRC, and unlike Michelle Obama, I have my job which gives me great personal satisfaction. It will keep me busy until and if I should find a man to include as part of my fabulous life. 

AC (hearts) Donna Brazile

and don't miss the moment when the camera pulls away from Brazile to get the reaction shot of the panel but they are all checking blackberries or zoning out!

Obama Wins!!!!!

I am still euphoric over last night's victory. And I am outraged that HRC refuses to concede. This is unprecedented, at least in my memory. Obama was very gracious toward her last night. But I fear this means might choose her as VP. I'm hoping that his shout out to her as future crafter of universal healthcare suggests he may give her a cabinet position to oversee this initiative for reform. Given that he has formed a 3-person VP search committee, the best case scenario for me is that they are looking outside the usual suspects, such as Bloomberg. 

Now Obama has to do his homework in regards to Latinos and some of the issues that concern many of us. I thought it was outrageous that he referred to us as "Hispanic.....Americans" - Somebody has to school him in nomenclature. Also, his position on immigration is problematic. So I am not an uncritical fan of Obama who has drank the "yes we can" Kool-Aid, but I think he's the best we've got and I hope he picks a VP who is towards the "left" rather than towards the "right" such as a Bloomberg. Granted, he has to make political calculations and to figure out which group counts more - Jewish voters, Latinos (and if so, which ones?!), women, working class people, fiscally conservative independents, etc. Of course, the latter sentence is absurd because just as I abhor facile analyses that assume "Latinos" (or: "Hispanic.....Americans") are monolithic, I know that this is true of every so-called voting demographic. But unfortunately, it seems that politicians and the media view such groups in these reductive, simplistic and short-cut ways. 

Two Years Without La Mas Grande

The bullfighter Jose Ortega Cano, widower of La Mas Grande, Rocio Jurado, kisses the monument at her grave on the second anniversary of her passing.  

Photo: HOLA magazine

Puerto Rican Primary - FANTASY ISLAND????

After my week-end without access to email and cable TV I am slowly catching up with the appalling coverage of the PR primary.

The turnout was a record low. Normally, 80% of Islanders vote in the elections for Governor. Sunday's turnout was 20%. Why? The Independence party called for protesting, since this has nothing to do with resolving our Status question and because Islanders may not vote in the general presidential election. Many pro-Commonwealth party members are, ultimately, pro-Independence if the only 2 options were becoming the 51st state or separating from the USA. As I write below, Clinton's public embrace of controversial members of the extreme Right-wing of the PNP pro-Statehood party surely hurt her. On the Island, you can't have it both ways, as she tried to pretend by claiming she'd unify the PNP and pro-Commonwealth parties.  

I have to grant it to FOX, who seems to be the only major mainstream news corporation to grasp the crucial nuance: Puerto Ricans residing on the Island may not vote in the Presidential election.

Some choice items:

On MSNBC they are saying that a delusional HRC hung on to the "landslide" in PR as an indicator of her possibilities for victory, viewing it as "FANTASY ISLAND." 

My sister commented on the bizarre factoids/trivia running on the CNN ticker as they waited for results, among the jewels "....PUERTO RICO IS 99% HISPANIC....." I have seen: comments about the fantastic weather down there, about the dancing and Spanish-speaking skills needed to campaign (hello? English was imposed on us as soon as the USA invaded, officially we are bi-lingual, and all official Federal business is conducted in English, also, about half of us live on the "Mainland," and many of us do not speak Spanish!). 

Video of HRC's victory speech, more demagogic pandering to the Island, as if she or anyone else in the US government or Congress give a flying fuck about conditions on the Island, and as if those on the Islands have ultimate say on the question of their status. Revolting to watch HRC pretend to speak Spanish and celebrate to the tune of Ricky Martin's anthem composed for the World Football Cup. 

I am increasingly frustrated by the uninformed commentary related to HRC's advantage and now landslide win in Puerto Rico. US media overlooks certain key facts that mitigate the interpretation of this primary as an unequivocal victory for Clinton and as evidence that "Hispanics" as an alleged bloc support her over Obama.

The facts are these:

1. Local political struggles have an impact on the party affiliation chosen by Island politicians. I know for a fact, because my family has been involved in politics, that members of the pro-Statehood Partido Nuevo Progresista are registered Democrat though they are far-Right politically, as a means to gain access to Democratic politicians that they need to lobby for their cause. 

Here, HRC campaigns alongside Carlos Pesquera, Sec. of Transportation under PNP Governor Pedro Rosello, Pesquera himself ran unsuccessfully for Governor under the PNP rubric. This is a very Right-Wing guy with GOP ideology. 


Here, HRC is standing beside Carlos Romero Barcelo, PNP ex-Governor of the Island, notorious for the Cerro Maravilla case. This guy is EXTREMELY Right-Wing and really GOP. 

2. The above brings up the "spoiler" issue - Republicans who vote for HRC as a way to thwart Obama and drag out the contest. This happened in more than one state where, inexplicably, Republicans were allowed to vote in Democratic primaries.

3. This last point is the most politically sensitive and I can understand why it is not aired publicly by US media and especially not by locals - it is racism. Although US commentators simplistically might assume that a fair number of the Island's mixed-race population might identify with Obama, the sad truth is that there is a lot of internalized racism (only furthered by the discrimination faced by darker skinned Islanders not only in Puerto Rico but especially on the so-called Mainland) among us. Thus, Obama's skin color must have harmed him on the Island.