#NotMyAbuela: Twitter Mocks Hillary Clinton’s “Hispandering” Post

By Alexis Evans | December 24, 2015

While Donald Trump is busy alienating Hispanics, other candidates are desperately trying to tap into the highly valued Hispanic vote to fuel their campaigns. So in an attempt to connect with Hispanic voters, Hillary Clinton’s team uploaded a new post to her campaign site Monday titled “7 things Hillary Clinton has in common with your abuela.”

In the post Clinton plays up her new role as grandmother while talking about the importance of el respeto, but Hispanic voters weren’t buying it. Clinton was immediately accused of “hispandering” aka pandering to Hispanics, and the backlash was muy grande.

The hashtag #NotMyAbuela quickly became a trending topic, with Hispanic voters listing off all the ways Hillary is not like their abuelas. Many of the tweets mocked the comparison with humor.

Maury knows. #NotMyAbuela pic.twitter.com/r2d0mjRAok

— Julian Kiani (@JulianKiani) December 23, 2015

Hillarry is #NotMyAbuela . This is… pic.twitter.com/8zkoCjlZKN — Sonparabailar (@sonparabailar) December 23, 2015

.@HillaryClinton do you even know what this is? #NotMyAbuela pic.twitter.com/Z2qGfXGGWm — Eliel Cruz (@elielcruz) December 22, 2015

I’ll believe @HillaryClinton is a Latina abuela when I see her throwing chanclas @ Chelsea. Until then, #NotMyAbuela pic.twitter.com/nr9FuEBjrC — L. Herrera y Lozano (@herreraylozano) December 23, 2015

#NotMyAbuela Instead of standing there while he lied, my Abuela would have beat him and left him crying pic.twitter.com/lHK95WOcIF — Niko (@NikoTheFarmer) December 23, 2015

Other posts took a much more serious approach. Some users began using the hashtag to criticize Clinton’s white privilege and foreign policy, while juxtaposing all the ways their abuelas’ struggles were nothing like Clinton’s.

Hilary is #NotMiAbuela #NotMyAbuela because I was separated by mine by many miles, and a militarized border pic.twitter.com/3cGk3dkIa7 — Marisol Ramos (@LaMarichola) December 22, 2015

Mi abuela wouldn’t try to buy Latino votes by using Spanish words & trying to seem relatble to struggles she’ll never know #NotMyAbuela — mixer (@AryanaaBM) December 23, 2015

Our experiences cannot be equated to those of a rich and privileged white woman. It’s shameful and disrespectful to try #NotMyAbuela — Lupita Gonzalez (@pitaslug) December 23, 2015

my abuela wouldn’t support the deportation of central american child migrants to the violent countries they tried to flee from #NotMyAbuela — paulinecstasy (@paulinecstasy) December 23, 2015

My Abuela raised 6 children alone, and can’t afford cancer treatment. #NotMyAbuela — Adamantium Dovahkiin (@raerraven) December 23, 2015

My abuelita and I divided by the border wall. Abuelitas don’t militarize communities. #NotMyAbuela pic.twitter.com/nykh5At5Z3 — Christian Ramirez (@RamirezUSMEX) December 23, 2015

Mi abuela was a woman of color, spoke only spanish, and faced racism&sexism. @HillaryClinton is #NotMyAbuela and needs to stop hispandering — Antonia Simpson (@alexandrabc1214) December 22, 2015

Latinos aren’t one size fits all. It takes more than a few Spanish words & cute pictures to get the Latino vote. #hillaryabuela #NotMyAbuela

— Vanessa Oden Show (@VanessaOden) December 22, 2015

All of the criticism has caused some people to wonder if there’s a bit of a double standard from voters, since many Bernie Sanders supporters and staffers often refer to him as “Tio Bernie” or Uncle Bernie. If “tio” is ok for Sanders, why isn’t “abuela” for Clinton?

I am wondering why is #TioBernie Ok, but Hillary can’t be like our Abuela? #notmyabuela Honest ? ,I got no skin in the game at this point. — Julissa Arce (@julissaarce) December 22, 2015

Regardless, it’s clear now that Clinton’s attempt at “hispandering” went way too far, and potentially alienated her from possible supporters. Even though the Democratic frontrunner seemingly has the nomination in the bag, mistakes like this could end up seriously hurting her campaign.