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Andres Oppenheimer
As we approach President Barack Obama's second anniversary in office, it's time to say that he has not fulfilled some of his key promises to U.S. Hispanics and Latin America.
Consider:
Immigration
Recently, the Obama administration failed to overcome Republican opposition in the
It was the easiest immigration measure to pass, because it was the one that made most sense from a national security, economic and humanitarian stand.
Yet, after passing the House, the measure died in the
Granted, it was Republican senators who blocked it. But many Hispanic leaders wonder whether Obama spent enough time and effort to get it passed: On the same week, Obama managed to get enough Republican support in the
On the broader issue of a comprehensive immigration reform that would seek to both secure the U.S. borders and provide a legal path to legalization to about 11 million undocumented immigrants, the president did not meet his campaign promise to make it a ``top priority'' of his first year in office, or of his second year.
And after the Republican takeover of the House in the
Free trade
The Obama administration announced recently that it will submit to
Supporters of the free trade agreements wanted all three deals to be submitted together, to overcome AFL-CIO labor unions' opposition to them. Obama is apparently considering his trade union supporters more important than his Latino voters, many free trade supporters suspect.
Ties with Latin America
Obama, who had promised to forge "a new alliance of the Americas" to end "years of negligence" toward the region, has not done either. Among other things, he failed to meet his campaign vow to appoint a Special U.S. Envoy to the Americas, and to upgrade the 33-country Summit of the Americas to turn it into an annual event, instead of a meeting taking place every three or four years.
My opinion:
To be fair, the Obama administration has done some good things on the Latin American front, including pursuing a more multilateral foreign policy, standing up for democracy during the Honduras coup and Ecuador's police uprising --despite the fact that it amounted to defending anti-U.S. demagogues -- and expanding family travel and cultural exchanges with Cuba.
Nice, but hardly the grand new vision for the hemisphere that Obama promised.
And on the U.S. Hispanic front, Obama, who won 67 percent of the Hispanic vote in the 2008 elections, has helped millions of Latinos with his healthcare laws and extended unemployment insurance. But he is making a big mistake by taking Hispanic voters for granted.
He may be right in thinking that Hispanics will not migrate to the
As the census figures show, the U.S. population has grown the most in heavily Hispanic-populated states, such as Texas and Florida. If Obama doesn't do more for Hispanics, he will not be able to get out the Latino vote and get re-elected.
Available at Amazon.com:
At War with the Weather: Managing Large-Scale Risks in a New Era of Catastrophes
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World - Obama's Pending Assignment: Reconnecting With Hispanics and Latin America | Global Viewpoint