Putting Obama In An Immigration Bind
Posted by: Hector M. Barajas | 06/11/2008 9:15 AM
Earlier this year, Democratic Senator Harry Reid and Speaker Nancy Pelosi noted that because of their busy congressional schedule and the November election, congress would not be able to take up the immigration reform issue. (Univision)
In 2007, aside from the minimum wage issue congress spent a majority of their time naming and remaining buildings, post offices, and other such structures -not very comforting for the millions of illegal immigrants who continue to be worried about deportation and family separation.
As Obama tries to win the hearts and minds of Latinos, he will soon realize that all the pan con leche or taco eating stunts will not be enough to undo the hypocrisy and false pandering his party has embraced.
Obama's Latino problem will be further compounded by the inaction on the part of his Democratic leadership and his own failure to lead on this important issue- the record, or that lack of record on the part of Obama, speaks for itself:
"Conversely, Republicans fear that Senate Democrats, while appearing conciliatory, at heart want to block passage of a Senate bill so that the GOP will be forced in this year's congressional campaigns to defend the much more conservative bill that the House approved in December." "The proximate cause of this week's breakdown was a series of unusually procedural demands by Reid." "Some Democrats may be cooling on the bill because of growing criticism of it from the AFL-CIO, which strongly opposes the measure's provisions for a guest worker program." (Ronald Brownstein, "Immigrant Bill Snared By Web Of Suspicion," The Los Angeles Times, 4/8/06)
"In private as well as public, Reid and Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who heads the party's campaign effort, said they did not want to expose rank-and-file Democrats to votes that would force them to choose between border security and immigrant rights, only to wind up with legislation that would be eviscerated in future negotiations with the House. ("Bush Blames Reid On Immigration Bill," Associated Press, 4/9/06)
In 2007, aside from the minimum wage issue congress spent a majority of their time naming and remaining buildings, post offices, and other such structures -not very comforting for the millions of illegal immigrants who continue to be worried about deportation and family separation.
As Obama tries to win the hearts and minds of Latinos, he will soon realize that all the pan con leche or taco eating stunts will not be enough to undo the hypocrisy and false pandering his party has embraced.
Obama's Latino problem will be further compounded by the inaction on the part of his Democratic leadership and his own failure to lead on this important issue- the record, or that lack of record on the part of Obama, speaks for itself:
"Conversely, Republicans fear that Senate Democrats, while appearing conciliatory, at heart want to block passage of a Senate bill so that the GOP will be forced in this year's congressional campaigns to defend the much more conservative bill that the House approved in December." "The proximate cause of this week's breakdown was a series of unusually procedural demands by Reid." "Some Democrats may be cooling on the bill because of growing criticism of it from the AFL-CIO, which strongly opposes the measure's provisions for a guest worker program." (Ronald Brownstein, "Immigrant Bill Snared By Web Of Suspicion," The Los Angeles Times, 4/8/06)
"In private as well as public, Reid and Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who heads the party's campaign effort, said they did not want to expose rank-and-file Democrats to votes that would force them to choose between border security and immigrant rights, only to wind up with legislation that would be eviscerated in future negotiations with the House. ("Bush Blames Reid On Immigration Bill," Associated Press, 4/9/06)
