Marco Rubio

Marco Rubio: U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio is raising his national profile through a series of major policy speeches on the economy and America's role in the world.

But one issue Florida's freshman Republican doesn't spend much time discussing is immigration. That's despite the fact his parents came from Cuba and he represents the state with the third-largest number of illegal immigrants. The issue has also garnered recent attention in the Republican presidential primary campaign because Texas Gov. Rick Perry supports in-state college tuition for illegal immigrants, a position Rubio once supported.

Rubio will talk in generalities about immigration but as the charismatic 40-year-old lawmaker's prominence grows, he will likely face more scrutiny on the issue. Despite his denials of interest, he is one of many Republicans who get mentioned as possible vice presidential nominees next year, and recently announced plans for a memoir.

"At the national level, he's not going to get a pass as he did in his Senate election," said Frank Sharry of the Washington, D.C. based pro-immigrant group, "America's Voice. Sharry said Rubio's views on immigration and on making English the official language "are going to be lifted up to the diverse immigrant communities in Florida and to the largely Mexican-American communities in the West."

That is in part why talking about immigration is complicated for Rubio. He's the darling of tea party conservatives and generally favors their position of securing the border first and dealing with the country's more than 10 million illegal immigrants later. Republicans also are frank about the charismatic senator's ability to attract Latinos to the GOP, a factor that could play a key role in swing states like Colorado, New Mexico and Florida next year. Rubio speaks glowingly about his immigrant parents' struggles to rebuild their lives in the U.S.

Still, the country's mostly Mexican-American Latino voters tend to support immigration reform that covers both border security and a path to legalization for qualified illegal immigrants, rather than delaying the latter. Meanwhile, even Florida's influential Puerto Ricans, who are U.S. citizens, and its Cuban-American immigrants, who get special permission to remain in the U.S., tend to be more sympathetic to the plight of illegal immigrants than the general public. They are also more concerned about laws that require police to check suspects' citizenship, fearing they will be the victims of racial profiling.

Former State Rep. J.C. Planas, a Miami Republican and Rubio's longtime House colleague, says Rubio is being unfairly pressed on immigration because he's Hispanic. Planas supports comprehensive immigration reform but said the entire GOP has moved to the right on the issue, and Rubio's position merely reflects that shift.

Rubio is still relatively unknown among Latinos outside Florida, and immigration is hardly the only issue they or the rest of the nation will judge him on.

But Arturo Vargas, head of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, says it's natural for Latinos to look to Rubio for leadership on the issue.

"It's not unreasonable for people to hope that individuals who are immigrants or children of immigrants and in policy-making positions would be sympathetic to the plight of immigrants," he said. "It's not just about when you talk, it's about using your authority to help make the plight of those individuals better."

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Herman Cain

Herman Cain: Against all odds, a 65-year-old black pizza mogul is the Republican Party’s latest darling. Herman Cain, former CEO of the Godfather’s Pizza company, is surging in the polls, surpassing Rick Perry to sit neck-and-neck with Mitt Romney atop the GOP presidential field.

Odds are that eventually the buzz around Cain will die down, and Romney will emerge victorious to take on Obama in the 2012 general election. But regardless of whether he wins or loses and he’ll probably lose as a black person I’m happy with what Cain has accomplished thus far. I’m happy he’s in the race and speaking his mind, and I think, despite inevitable problems, he’s good for black America.

Tell some liberals, especially liberals of color, that you like Herman Cain and you’re likely to get groans, chortles, or, from the far leftists, angry stares, and not without reason. Cain is, of course, a man who last week practically called black people political zombies, telling CNN that blacks “have been brainwashed into not being open-minded, not even considering a conservative point of view.”

Beyond that statement, Cain’s politics themselves—low taxes for business, suspicion of Muslims—are not the kinds of things black people generally find endearing in their leaders.

Cain has his share of outspoken black detractors. Actor and former CNN host D.L. Hughley tweeted in September that Cain belongs on a pancake box, like Aunt Jemima. Another CNN contributor, Roland Martin, tweeted that Cain needs to eat some barbecue and listen to James Brown to get more black.

He added, “Dude is in bad need of a brotherly hug!” Michael Colyar, a comedian, didn’t mince words a la Hughley and Martin: “Uncle Tom Cain is the newest Republican lapdog,” he wrote on Twitter. “[He] will do anything to be seen.”

It’s ironic that people irritated by Cain’s increasing popularity have responded just as Cain predicted: with closed-mindedness. Cain has theorized since the start of his campaign that there are blacks who will dismiss and disparage him out of hand simply because he’s a conservative. It turns out he’s right.

Of course, blacks have every reason in the world to be wary of the Republican Party. For decades, the GOP has leveraged anti-black fears to win elections.

And the social welfare spending cuts advocated by conservatives are often thinly veiled whines about the black welfare state, the same kind of nonsense that perpetuated the myth of “the welfare queen” throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s. Neither major American political party seems to have the best interests of black people in mind, but if one is more racist than the other, it’s the Republican camp. Which is why I’m so happy Cain is a Republican.

When Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008, he did so with the support of 96 percent of black voters. In the four decades leading up to that, at least 80 percent of black voters supported the Democratic candidate in every presidential election. Not only do blacks like Democrats, they also feel alienated by Republicans.

“According to David Bositis, a political analyst at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies,” wrote the Washington Post in 1998, “the GOP is still considered by most blacks as ‘the white people's party.’”

To every outsider looking in—Republicans, Democrats, and independents alike—the black community is a monolithic bloc when it comes to politics: all Democrats all the time. While there’s some truth to that stereotype, it’s been a disastrous one for the black community overall.

Republicans know they’re not going to get black votes, so they don’t even try; in fact, they herald policies and perspectives that actively shun minorities. The Democratic Party, on the other hand, does what everyone does when given total dominion over an oppressed group: They take that group's loyalty for granted. In the end, neither party puts forth policy that will meaningfully affect blacks, and the black community suffers because of it.

Hermain Cain is not the savior of the black community by any means. His stated policy stances are mostly doctrinaire conservativism, and he cowers when faced with racial discussions. Nevertheless, I can’t help but be ecstatic that he’s in the running for president.

He’s a reminder to Americans of every color that there is vast depth and breadth to the black community. Not every black person voted for Obama. Not every black person likes the welfare state. Not every black person wants higher taxes for wealthy white Americans. Cain is black, and he doesn’t fit any of those molds. If anyone is predictable, it’s Cain’s hecklers, booing and calling him an Uncle Tom from behind their Twitter avatars.

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