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President Obama addressed the National Council of La Raza, the nation’s largest Hispanic civil rights organization in a visit Monday that underscored the growing importance of a voting demographic that at one time felt ignored.

In his speech, Obama acknowledged that the recent recession hurt Hispanic communities more than many others and asked for patience.

“I don't need to tell you Latino unemployment is painfully high. And there’s no doubt that this economy has not recovered as fast as it needs to. The truth is it’s going to take more time.”

Hispanic Republicans say that patience with the president and the Democratic Party is wearing thin.

“The unemployment rate among Hispanics right now is at 11.6 percent,” the Republican National Committee’s Victoria Martinez points out. “This is considerably higher than the national unemployment rate, which just recently ticked up to 9.2 percent. Hispanic voters are very aware. They want to see President Obama start to support policies that are going to spur job creation, that are going to get them back to work.”

Hispanics turned out in big numbers for Obama in the 2008 election. But in the 2010 elections, many of them stayed home, and many of those who showed up at the polls voted for Republicans.

“Every single freshman Hispanic member of Congress elected in 2010 was a Republican,” Martinez says. “Now this was in great part because the Republican message is obviously resonating within these communities.”

This month, the RNC released an English-language TV ad along with Spanish-language radio ads aimed directly at Hispanics in Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico. Around the same time, Karl Rove’s Crossroads America also released a Spanish-language TV ad. READ MORE