America said yes to four more years. It was a hard-won second victory for President Barack Obama, who was neck-and-neck in the polls as election season came down to the wire.
Obama, who made history in 2008 when he became the first U.S. president with African heritage, tried to hold onto the Oval office amid one of the most bitterly partisan, and tough economic times in the country.
It was also an election in which Latinos and their interests and concerns got more attention than ever – in the media, and by conservative and liberal politicians alike (though not always in a positive way).
The Obama campaign warned that his GOP challenger, Mitt Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, would push policies that would favor the rich at the expense of the middle-class and low-income Americans. Obama warned Latinos that a Romney presidency would be hostile to immigrants and Latinos.
In June, Obama announced that he would suspend deportation for undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as minors and who met a strict set of criteria. More than 1 million immigrants are believed to be affected by the initiative, which Romney said he would discontinue if he became president.
Romney ran into problems with Latinos when he took a particularly hard line on immigration during the GOP primaries.
In an effort to appeal to the party’s conservative base, Romney voiced support for the Arizona anti-illegal immigration law, SB 1070, parts of which were upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as “self-deportation,” in essence making life so difficult for undocumented immigrants that they would leave of their own accord.
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