His rallying cry echoes the late César Chávez, the Latino activist who inspired legions with three simple words, “Si, se puede!”

The loose translation — “Yes, we can!” — has become Barack Obama’s call to arms.

But now, some are asking: Can he?

After a dismal showing among Hispanics in his Super Tuesday showdown with Hillary Clinton, can Obama entice this key voting bloc? And, if not, what might that say about a color divide that extends beyond Black-White in an ever-expanding brown America?

Going forward in a neck-and-neck race, the ability to win Hispanic voters will prove vital in the March 4 primary in Texas, where nearly 25 percent of eligible voters are Hispanic. It could even push a tight race into one camp or the other in places like Maryland and Washington, D.C., where the Latino share of eligible voters in this Tuesday’s primary hovers at just 3 and 4 percent, respectively.

“Let’s face it,” said popular Spanish-language radio host Luis Jimenez, “Hispanics will vote for a woman president before voting for someone who is African-American.”

While the overall tally of Super Tuesday’s string of contests was hardly conclusive in determining the ultimate Democratic presidential nominee, the results among Hispanics spoke volumes: Clinton, exit polls showed, won 63 percent of Hispanic voters, helping propel her to victory in places like Arizona and California, where a whopping 67 percent of Hispanics backed her.

Even in Obama’s home state of Illinois, where he soundly beat Clinton, polls showed he merely split the Latino vote.

Is this about familiarity, a Johnny-come-lately strategy and a shortage of big-name Latino endorsements, or something less tangible and more provocative — a reluctance among Latinos to support a Black candidate?

The suggestion inflames Federico Peña, who served in President Clinton’s cabinet and now sits as a national co-chair for the Obama campaign.