Hispanics turning on Obama over energy policies?

During the 2008 presidential election, Barack Obama aggressively courted the Hispanic vote, declaring he would serve their interests and protect their jobs. He was awarded with two-thirds of their vote.

But The Hill is reporting this morning that Obama's energy policies are endangering his Hispanic support, which could spell trouble for the Democrats this fall.

In the 2008 Texas primary ad, Viva Obama, a handsome mariachi assures Tejanos that Barack Obama is the best candidate for the nation and for all Tejanos. As trumpets and guitars blare in the background, the mariachi sings that Obama is the one to "proteger la gente trabajadora" (protect the hard working people). Two years later, this promise is not being met. The Latino community has been especially hard hit in this recession with unemployment rates consistently above that of the national average. Even in the midst of the immigration debate, jobs still remain the top concern for Latinos as shown in a recent AP-Univision poll.

Texas has the second largest Latino population in the United States. It also has the most jobs in the oil and gas industry. This makes for a combustible interaction in light of the proposed tax increases to the domestic oil and gas industry. The current national unemployment rate is 9.6 percent while the rate for Hispanics in the U.S. sits at 12.2 percent. Both at the national level and in Texas, the Latino community is disproportionately affected by job loss and the sluggish economy. Taxing the American energy industry runs counter to efforts to revitalize our economy and disproportionately affects communities of color.

Meanwhile, the Democrats continue to threaten to implement a jobs-killing national energy tax known as cap and trade.

Technorati tags: climate change environment global warming cap and trade economy Congress democrats politics hispanic