With two weeks before elections day, the focus on key voting blocs intensifies, and Latino voters represent part of that. Much of the attention to the Latino vote and Latino issues (because we don’t want the same things that other voters want like a better economy, health care, apparently)is happening in Spanish and through the Spanish language media (because apparently we all speak Spanish).

Los Angeles’ La Opinión and New York’s El Diario/La Prensa, two of the nation’s oldest Spanish-language dailies, made public their endorsements of the Democratic candidate on Friday.

That isn’t to say that the endorsements aren’t important. They are, especially with the continued discussions on if Latinos will vote for a “black candidate” (because apparently there are no black Latinos). Pero perhaps more importantly, they hopefully push Latino voters of all language preferences, to put pressure on candidates to speak to important issues like immigration, police brutality, relationships with our countries of origin and yes, the economy, education and health care too.

Today, there are more children living in poverty in this country than there were a decade ago. And on principles of fairness and humanity, we have gone backwards.

Our next president must have the capacity, judgment and vision to restore confidence, both here and abroad. El Diario/La Prensa endorses Senator Barack Obama as the leader ready to redirect the United States of America towards its promise.

La Opinión, in turn, said the U.S. needs “a different vision and a new focus to the problems that have been dragging on for decades. Barack Obama is the right person to begin a new cycle of renewal as President of the United States.” [Here's the full text, in Spanish and English.]

Obama personifies the change this country needs. He has demonstrated that he is a different kind of Democrat, one with a profound social conscience, one who values the role of the individual as agent of change. Obama’s platform is practical, recognizing that there are no magical solutions, and that we will need the commitment and efforts of all of us.

Via / Feet in Two Worlds