The man picked by the Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton as his running mate, U.S. Senator Timothy Kaine, is a true gentleman.

I was privileged to meet him in person only three months ago, when he attended the DC joint summit of Latino Americans and African American Publishers, hosted in the National Press Club in May of 2016.

In a lunch I was given the honor of being the Master of Ceremonies, in my role as former national president of the first group, he spoke intermittently in that nearly perfect Spanish he learned with Jesuit discipline in Honduras, back during his young years, when he moved to that Central American nation to serve the poor.

In that occasion, more powerful to us than when he was introduced recently by Mrs. Clinton to the nation over national TV, he spoke (mostly in English) about his vision for the nation.

Now we understand why we heard this week he could’ve been a presidential contender during the Democratic primary, but decided to stay behind, waiting for an opportunity that finally arrived two weeks ago.

He can be Hillary’s natural successor— if the former First Lady finally puts it together and defeats Donald Trump in November.

He can be Hillary’s natural successor— if the former First Lady finally puts it together and defeats Donald Trump in November.

One thing that really charmed Latino publishers present in that lunch was the fact that he barely used Spanish to speak to the group, in a sign of due respect, mainly for the fellow African American Publishers present in the room.

The reason why we, Latino American Publishers, liked Mr. Kaine’s speech, was that he not only spoke in sparkling U.S. English, the common language of our great nation, but also because he spoke “our language,” talking about the obvious issues of the Latino community in the United States.

No need of platitudes in Spanish that don’t mean much, but plain words in straightforward English that travel farther to hearts and minds of million of Latinos and Latinas across the U.S. who can cast a vote, one way or the other, come November the 8th, 2016.

“Timo” (short in Spanish for Timoteo, as he shared with me his nickname was popular among his friends in Honduras), please allow us to tell you, sir:

Keep up the good job, por favor.