Klobuchar And Buttigieg's Debate Spat Was An Insult To Mexico
In Wednesday night’s Democratic presidential debate, one of the only questions about immigration and foreign policy was reduced to a trivia point. Vanessa Huac, a moderator from Telemundo, asked Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) about how she couldn’t name the president of Mexico in an interview last week.
Klobuchar chalked the snafu up to “momentary forgetfulness” that doesn’t reflect her knowledge of the country and clumsily gave “greetings to President Lopez Obrador.” But rival and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg dug in on the memory lapse, pointing out that as someone on a committee that oversees border security, Klobuchar should know the answer.
“Are you ― are you trying to say that I’m dumb?” snipped Klobuchar. “Or are you mocking me here, Pete?”
The exchange quickly devolved into a mud-slinging contest where the two candidates argued about the merits of Senate vs. mayoral experience. But lost in their insults was any real discussion about U.S.-Mexico relations, despite the many political, cultural and economic issues at stake.
“This was a contest between the two of them, basically playing out for the cameras,” said Michael Werz, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. “The fact that presidential candidates are so unfamiliar with the immediate neighbor of the United States is shocking and it is inexcusable.”
The ties between the U.S. and Mexico merit more than a “Jeopardy!” moment on the debate stage. Thirty six million Mexican-Americans live in the U.S., and the two cultures are deeply intertwined through family, business, culture and food. Tens of thousands of U.S. residents cross the border every day for work, school or simply to shop. Mexico is America’s third-largest trading partner, with more than $1 billion worth of goods and services crossing the border each day. Plus, the U.S.-Mexico border is a focal point of Donald Trump’s presidency, and he is constantly pressuring...
