The Daily Campus

Issue date: 1/23/09 Section: Focus

Media Credit: Carolyn Wilke Professor Venator Santiago speaks about Obama's impact on Latinos on Thursday evening.

One would be hard pressed to flip through the channels on television and not find something Obama-related these days. The newly sworn in president may have a symbolic importance to the black community, but what about Obama's effect on other cultural groups? Last evening, UConn Political Science Professor, Venator Santiago spoke about Obama's impact on Latinos around the country, Latino involvement in the election and more at the Puerto Rican and Latin-American Cultural Center.

Santiago arrived at the center still reeling from his trip to Washington to witness the inauguration. He started off with a tidbit about attending one of the inaugural balls, where he got to see a lot of interesting people. "I hung out with J.Lo and her husband," he said, beaming. After that jovial anecdote, he addressed the matters that the listeners were anticipating. The first noteworthy point was about the Latino vote across the nation in comparison to the last election.

"The Latino vote was still at about eight percent of the population. That means there was no change from the amount of people who voted last time." He continued to say the difference that Latinos made had to do with the proportions that voted differently. Certain demographics of the population were swayed to the Democratic ticket and proved to be instrumental in helping President Obama win certain states. The states that Santiago mentioned in particular were New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado and even California.

The next point he addressed was the number of Latinos that were selected for Obama's cabinet and staff. Aside from Bill Richardson's withdrawal from consideration for secretary of commerce, Santiago stressed that Latinos still have a notable presence in Obama's team.

The appointment of Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar as secretary of the interior and Hilda Solís as secretary of labor is definitely a point of pride for the Latino community.

"The problem arises in the Senate since these individuals have moved up out of the Senate," he said, meaning that the Latino presence in the Senate has dwindled.

The rest of the discussion was more of a casual talk about other Latino politicians, the state of Cuba and Puerto Rico's statehood. The modest but extremely interested crowd participated enthusiastically when it came to the many different facets of Latino culture and were definitely drawn to the professor's charismatic and informal speech. Some of Santiago's final remarks on Obama's future were interesting as well. "Expect a more tolerant and less corrupt administration that should keep the door open for more punitive positions. In other words, he will move away from the Bush administration but keep the door open for [some of the previous institution's] stricter policies."

Angie Logreno, a 4th-semester music major, had this to say on the evening: "He was very knowledgeable and insightful. It is very important to be aware of what our [Latino] politics are and keeping track of the government."

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