The president spoke at least three times this evening during his State of the Union on issues of importance to the Western Hemisphere: immigration, trade and his desire to travel to Latin America in March.

He was strong on immigration, saying he is willing to work with anyone to address immigration issues comprehensively as a priority. That's good news and shows that immigration reform isn't dead despite the failure of the Dream Act in the lame duck congressional session late last year. Hopefully Republicans will take him up on it, or else they risk losing Hispanics politically for at least a generation, perhaps more. 2011 could finally be the year, if republicans will play ball.

On trade, the president spoke of working with Panama and Colombia to get an agreement that supports U.S. workers. We already have such agreements, though, since the agreements as drafted would open markets to us in the same way ours is already open to them. It’s a matter of fairness, and also the ability to export more, consistent with the president’s goal of doubling exports by 2014.