The Wednesday-morning quarterbacking on Mitt Romney’s defeat was quick in coming, and while many factors have been cited, one is unmistakable:
Romney failed to connect with Latino voters, winning only 27 percent.
This had consequences for Romney. For the Republican Party, it is portentous.
President Obama got an even bigger share of the Hispanic vote Tuesday than he did four years ago — this, as Latinos constituted 10 percent of the electorate for the first time ever.
With Latinos now one of the fastest-growing voting constituencies in America, future Republican nominees will either adapt — or perish.
Romney drifted into troubled waters during the primary campaign; he tried to appeal to conservatives by tacking hard right on immigration — especially on the question of amnesty for illegal aliens.
And his subsequent pivot back to the center for the general election was without enthusiasm, and entirely unconvincing.
This doesn’t make him an evil person; candidates are entitled to their views on contentious issues.
But it did help make him a loser.
Certainly, it’s not impossible for Republicans to appeal to Latinos: George W. Bush won 35 percent of their votes in 2000 and actually increased that share in 2004.
But the problem goes beyond any specific nominee; it’s a problem the entire GOP needs to address in a productive way.
This country has always been, and needs always to remain, a nation of hard-working immigrants who come here with but one goal — achieving the American dream.
Most Latinos are fundamentally conservative, in the sense of traditional values; the various Hispanic communities are church- and family-oriented.
And Latinos are not afraid of hard work.
In short, they would seem to be a natural fit for the GOP.
But, like many other Americans, they remain skeptical of a party that has been portrayed, not always unfairly, as favoring wealthy white men over poor, more darkly hued newcomers.
That gives Republicans a very high political hurdle to clear if they hope to remain competitive without compromising their core beliefs — that is, their high regard for economic competitiveness and private enterprise.
Which is why it’s so encouraging that so many rising GOP political stars are Latino, like Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Sen.-elect Ted Cruz of Texas and Gov. Susana Martinez of New Mexico.
It’s going to require some fresh thinking on the part of GOP leaders and strategists to turn their problem around.
But if they don’t, the party’s future is gloomy.