He's Back

It won't change much for either of them. The former governor of Alaska may stay marginally more in the public eye with her Twitter account, although she has lately been ignoring even that. But while Tweeting will help her in booking a likely and lucrative national speaking tour and perhaps land a cable news or radio talk show, (and I would love to have her as a colleague), it will not increase her remote chance of running successfully for national office. Tweets aside, the essence of public service is serving and whatever the promise of her dramatic and dynamic early career, it has been severely undermined by the resignation. Hard conservatives can insist her move was an inspired ploy to frustrate her petty political enemies, which she has in abundance.

Still, you can't quit or Tweet your way to the top in public life, regardless of ideology. She is now consigned to playing to her in-crowd via the internet. The good news is that it might impose a disciplined environment in which she has to write things down and eventually help evolve her political philosophy beyond criticism of the media, support for the troops and the Second Amendment. But unless she broadens her message and appeal, she will largely be a specialty act playing to perhaps 25% of the voting public.

Sanchez is far worse off. His ratings are anemic, worse even than his colleague dopey Lou Dobbs who resurrected a failed career by slandering Latinos on the immigration issue. Now that the bitter edge is off that one, Dobbs is trying again by touting the 'Fake Obama Birth Certificate!' campaign. He is beyond the pale, and his slow professional fade will accelerate as ridicule of his preposterous notions and transparent motivation spreads.

As far as I know, Sanchez has not yet embraced conspiracy theories although the move would not surprise me. Instead, his modus operandi has been unrequited fight-picking with more successful rivals. Despite his many provocations, none have noticed or taken the bait although I might be tempted to taser him as he once did to himself in an earlier attempt to attract attention. In Sanchez' case, his professional failure persists even as his on-screen banners announce his presence on every virtual medium imaginable. He seems to be available on everything from MySpace and CNN.com to the Home Shopping Network. Soon I expect him to break out and begin smoke signaling and leafleting; and even those terrestrial media won't help him attract a more meaningful audience.

It doesn't matter where you say something as much as it matters what you have to say. Most apparently find Sanchez annoying, and he is equally irrelevant regardless of how or where he publishes. And when he does attract more than his usual, meager share of public interest, like when he tasered himself, it is generally of the, "what an asshole…." variety.

But his feeble attempts to gain name recognition aside, some viewers do want more and different information from broadcasters than what is generally available on air, particularly concerning personal experiences or opinions not necessarily of interest to the larger audience. That is why I'm reinvigorating this website, beginning today. From now on, aside from leaving no slander unchallenged, I will try to communicate more about what my family and I are up to and where I think we and the nation are heading.

And here's my first tidbit of the new era: on September 1, 2009, I've got a new book coming out called "The Great Progression: How Hispanics Will Lead America to A New Era of Prosperity ." Although the notion addressed in the title is perhaps counter-intuitive, I submit that the reason it seems unlikely is because many Americans has been propagandized by people like CNN's Dobbs into believing falsely that Latinos are a race of parasites rather than producers. That negative stereotype belies the enormous and growing contribution that Hispanics are and will increasingly make to American society. It is a contribution documented in the new book. One gigantic example: the average age of white Americans is 40. The average age of Hispanic Americans is about 27. As the majority population, particularly the Boomer generation ages, who do you think will be doing Social Security's heavy lifting going forward?

Increasingly, it will be these energetic, ambitious young strivers who make up the latest wave in America's Great Progression. There are now almost 47 million Latinos in the United States, the vast majority of them, citizens. They are changing the face of the country. The nation and its Latino population now have a shared destiny. We are in this together.

I'll have more to say on this and other topics. If you have questions or comments please reach out to me at contact@geraldo.com. Thanks for taking the time. Hasta pronto.