Even More Cinco de Mayo Hispandering from The White House

May 5, 2014
4:07 PM

Earlier today, we shared a post about a Cinco de Mayo breakfast hosted by Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden. It got some attention, for the obvious reasons listed here. (By the way, we must credit the label “Hispandering” to the fabulous @AdrianaMaestas.)

This afternoon the Hispandering from the White House continued, when the official Twitter account of @lacasablanca (the White House’s official Spanish-language profile), tweeted this:

A few minutes later, it tweeted the same picture with a tweet in Spanish. (Sidenote: the tweet forgot the inverted ¡ in the Spanish copy)

Our first reaction was quick: 10 pesos that there was no official tweet @WhiteHouse about the very same picture and content.

Sadly, we were right.

A review of the White House’s official main account shows no Cinco de Mayo tweet today. While Spanish-speaking Twitter users got Cinco de Mayo pictures (twice), the main White House account tweeted this:

To summarize:

Spanish-language Twitter account for the White House? Pictures of fiesta time! Twice!

English-language Twitter account for the White House? Actual tweet about policy and an issue that, call us crazy, is actually relevant to many U.S. Latinos.

Also, can you imagine if indeed the White House had the courage to post the @casablanca image on the main Twitter profile? That would have been interesting, and a bit courageous. Instead, leave that photo in the Spanish-language corner with fewer followers and less reach. That will keep the digital Latinos happy. What is even more bizarre is that the White House team already had a tweet prepared in English. How hard is it to tweet it out from both accounts?

Need we remind the digital folks at the White House: this is Hispandering at its obvious. Do we really need to explain it any more? Just give us mariachis and margaritas. Ugh.