4. Barack Obama
Latinos and immigrants’ advocates rallied around Obama during his 2008 campaign and were encouraged by his promises to push comprehensive immigration reform legislation in his first year in office. But with health care, two wars, a prison camp in Cuba and an economic crisis on his hands, the immigration reform promise became one of several the president admitted he wouldn’t be able to fulfill this year. Although Obama has pledged renewed focus on immigration in 2010, the combination of midterm elections and persistent unemployment may make him reluctant to invest in the issue.
