A recent conference call between Barack Obama’s communications director Robert Gibbs and Hispanic media went awry last week when reporters demanded to know why Obama’s people are so hard to get a hold of. Says blog Politico:

In a week when Obama was appealing to Hispanic members of Congress to be as loyal to him as they were to his former Democratic rival, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, his campaign was experiencing a major disconnect with the reporters who communicate to the community.

Gibbs thought he was on the call to discuss McCain’s “flip-flops” on issues like immigration and energy, but the reporters’ had a more pressing agenda that apparently blindsided him even though, as Politico contributor Gebe Martinez says, “for weeks, members of the Spanish-language media had been blogging, writing and outright complaining that the presidential campaigns have not been paying attention to them.” Maybe the problem was they said it in Spanish? This time they were more direct:

There has not been much “outreach with the Latino community,” one reporter complained, before others piled on their gripes: no access to Obama, no interaction with bloggers, no attention being paid by the “change” candidate and his campaign.

As if to ask, “Is that all?” one caller wondered who else, besides New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and former Denver Mayor Federico Pena, would be campaigning in the Hispanic community for Obama.

Haven’t they seen Jessica Alba and her (probably Hispanic) fetus singing Kumbaya? Seriously though, what gives? Is the Hispanic media riding the “back of the media bus” as Politico suggests? Martinez also points us to blogger Marisa Treviño of Latina Lista who paints a picture of a campaign that is not exactly rushing to embrace the Democratic demographic that didn’t really choose it. Ie, Latina women:

News that some Latina leadership was “displeased” with Obama surfaced after he had been declared the official Democratic nominee and still had not made an effort to contact those Latina congresswomen who had supported Clinton but were ready to meet with Obama.

[June 18], it was reported that Obama finally got together with some members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Only one of the six Latina Congresswomen attended the gathering.

Pissy, pissy. Then there’s the typical blog dissing:

[T]he campaign has been strangely silent with the Latino blogosphere. Sure, we all get the daily mass emails but by this time in the Clinton campaign, designated staff was reaching out to us bloggers and keeping us updated on Clinton’s agenda. So far, nada from Obama.

Personally, we can confirm the same treatment over here, but we don’t get emails from any politicians except for Rick Noriega. (Wassup, Rocker?!) So is Obama holding a grudge against Latino voters? We emailed Treviño today to ask her if anything’s changed since the infamous conference call:

I was on that conference call and I have a feeling things will be changing within the campaign. I’ve spoken personally to Vince Casillas, the appointed director of Hispanic Outreach, and he’s only now getting a staff together for reach-out. He’s well aware of the feelings that have been quoted in the press and I’ve been assured that there will be some changes.

Yet, that’s only specifically speaking about Latino outreach. I think there has to be more of an impression made on the overall director [Gibbs] of communications for the campaign who just didn’t seem to get how frustrated we were on that conference call […] There’s just so much that Vince and his team can do […]

Like the three things Treviño outlined in her post from last week:

1. Make a personal visit to those Latina congresswomen who were ready to get behind him but made to feel like their support didn’t matter.

2. Reach out to the Latino blogosphere and understand that our patience too at being ignored is growing thin. A simple email acknowledging the fact that you know we’re here would be great. As it stands now, we don’t even know if the Obama campaign wants Latino bloggers’ support.

3. Understand that as childish or tiresome [as] our behavior must seem, it’s where Hispanic culture and our mutual upbringing kicks in: Personal contact is a must-have, not a we’ll-see kind of thing. It’s how we interact with one another and regardless of whether or not we’re Mexican-American, Puerto Rican, Cuban-American, etc., it’s that handshake or kiss on the cheek or hug that serves as an integral part of our communication with one another.

We’ll go one further and say #3 has nothing to do with Hispanic upbringing but just good, old-fashioned business sense. Networking is the key to any sale. For the record, The Huffington Post’s M.S. Bellows, Jr., who posted audio from the conference call on his site, says “it’s not just Latinos who have [this communication] problem, with both campaigns!”

Latino media getting cold shoulder from campaigns? [Politico]
The clock is ticking — Latinos wait to be included in Obama’s campaign [Latina Lista]
Obama General Election Campaign Begins; Latino Journos Point Out Flawed Strategy [The Huffington Post]