Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar is under fire for telling a story from her fourth grade Spanish class to a majority-Latino audience.
While speaking to workers from the Culinary Union, the Democratic presidential candidate introduced herself and opened up with a story from her elementary school Spanish class: “Well, let me tell you first about me. My name is Amy, and, when I took Spanish in fourth grade, my name was Elena,” Klobuchar said. “They gave me the name, ‘Me llamo Elena,’ because I couldn’t roll my Rs very well.”
Though some in the audience smiled in response, Klobuchar took flak online for “pandering” to Hispanic voters.
“There’s Hispandering and then there’s whatever this is,” said Gabe Ortiz, a senior writer at the Daily Kos. “No one cares about your fourth grade Spanish class, we’d like to know if we can go to the doctor’s without going broke, if we can protect our families from deportation, oh and if we can still have a democracy a couple years from now, thanks.”
No one cares about your fourth grade Spanish class, we’d like to know if we can go to the doctor’s without going broke, if we can protect our families from deportation, oh and if we can still have a democracy a couple years from now, thanks.
— Gabe Ortíz (@TUSK81) February 19, 2020
“AYUDAME,” wrote another Twitter user. “‘Klobuchamos’ – Klobuchar in Nevada,” the user added.
“Klobuchamos” – Klobuchar in Nevada
— JP (@jpbrammer) February 19, 2020
“PICTURED: Elena Klobuchamos, the first female governor of Puerto Rico,” wrote comedian Gabe Gonzalez.
PICTURED: Elena Klobuchamos, the first female governor of Puerto Rico. pic.twitter.com/u9x58RnxIU
— Gabe Gonzalez (@gaybonez) February 19, 2020
Her remarks follow Klobuchar’s sit-down interview with Telemundo, where she was unable to name the Mexican president, to which Pete Buttigieg said at a campaign stop, “Guess what it says is that there is more to being prepared than how many years you spent in Washington.”
Klobuchar attempted to explain away her gaffe while appearing at a CNN town hall on Tuesday night. “I would say to the mayor: This isn’t like a game of Jeopardy! This is about, to me, experience, and I have so much respect for him and his experience, but my experience is different,” she said.
