Why I Still Love America

The DNC announced the keynote speaker for the 2012 Democratic National Convention.  It is Julian Castro, mayor of San Antonio.  Eric Lach wrote a piece for TPM on the pick.  Lach provides a bit of background on Castro:

Castro, 37, has served as mayor of San Antonio since 2009. He was born and raised in San Antonio, the son of Rosie Castro, a leader of La Raza Unida, a Mexican-American civil rights group, and a woman The New York Times Magazine described, in a 2010 profile of Julián Castro, as “a well-known ’70s firebrand.” Julián and his twin brother Joaquín Castro — who serves in the Texas House of Representatives and is running for Congress — grew up around politics.

He goes on to note that in spite of his heritage, Castro doesn't speak Spanish, a fact noted by NY Times Magazine reporter Zev Chafets in a 2010 profile.  One exerpt from that article represents why, for all of its warts, I still love America.

Early in his administration, Castro assigned his chief of staff, Robbie Greenblum — a Jewish lawyer from the border town of Laredo whose own Spanish is impeccable — to discreetly find him a tutor. Rosie Castro’s son is now being taught Spanish by a woman named Marta Bronstein. Greenblum met her in shul.

  Only in America!

1 August 2012