When President Obama addressed the Congressional Hispanic Caucus last week at its annual gala, he was applauded 28 times in 17 minutes. The warm reception reflected the success of his outreach to Latinos, even as he has postponed immigration reform to next year and taken tough stands on undocumented immigrants.
The administration's words and actions on immigration have fostered wariness in some quarters, and left many unanswered questions about Obama. At the same time there's no question that Obama has stepped up Latino representation in Washington and outreach to the Latino community at large.
Most significant, of course, was his appointment of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. After noting the presence of a Spanish duchess at the gala, Obama introduced Sotomayor as "our own royalty" and "somebody who I've just come to adore."
Spanish-language TV and radio outlets have risen to new prominence in the Obama era. Univision, the Spanish-language TV network, made the cut last weekend as part of Obama's Sunday-show interview gauntlet, right up there with ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN.
Obama named two Latino Cabinet members -- Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis -- before he was inaugurated. The personnel process is ongoing. Just this week, the president named five people to a commission studying the building of a National Museum of the American Latino on the national Mall. On Thursday, as I was writing this column, he nominated three people for administration jobs. One was Marisa Lago, a Latina, as assistant treasury secretary for international markets and development.
All of the attention to Latinos is predictable and smart, given that they are a fast-growing proportion of the country and the electorate. They voted 2-to-1 for Obama last year and could be pivotal in a number of House and Senate races next year.
See the rest of teh story at Politics Daily
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