Latinos and the progressive agenda are an odd political combination because they do not agree on fundamental issues - such as the right to life, traditional marriage, and entrepreneurship. 

The stress between the goals of progressivism and the aims of the Latino community are beginning to become more evident. Allow me to show a couple of examples:

The Associated Press reports that a new "Poll Shows Cracks in Obama’s Hispanic Support":

President Barack Obama's once solid support among Hispanics is showing a few cracks, a troubling sign for Democrats desperate to get this critical constituency excited about helping the party hold onto Congress this fall.

... the survey ... shows Obama gets only lukewarm ratings on issues important to Hispanics -- and that could bode poorly for the president and his party.

What sort of issues, you may ask? That's not hard to guess: "An unfulfilled promise to overhaul the nation's patchwork immigration system, which Hispanics overwhelmingly want to see fixed, also may be to blame."

Even a Washington Post journalist, attempting to highlight the challenges to conservatives in winning over Latinos, cannot sugarcoat the relationship between the Latino community and the White House:

Last month, Obama invited a small group of influential Latino activists to the White House and reassured them that he is committed to reform. But to succeed, he said, they had to stop their public complaining about how slowly he was moving and instead direct their fire at Republicans.

The activists came away from their presidential audience still convinced that he could be doing more to push the issue. But their discussion with Obama -- and a lengthier one with adviser Valerie Jarrett after he left the room -- made one thing clear to them: The White House plans to use the immigration debate to punish the GOP and aggressively seek the Latino vote in 2012.

Using an issue as a carrot to keep Latinos in a coalition seems hardly fair, especially as Latino influence grows in the electorate. Once Latinos realize they do not need the progressive agenda to achieve their goals, why will they stay with an agenda so foreign to their values?