Obama Pitches Immigration Policy

Obama Pitches Immigration Policy
T.W. Farnam reports on the presidential race.

Barack Obama spoke on Wednesday night about a subject that often gets short shrift on the 2008 campaign trail: immigration. The Democratic candidate made the speech to a crowd of Hispanic leaders at black-tie dinner capping the end of a Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute gathering in Washington.

After spending a few minutes talking about his opponent and his other policy proposals, Obama got his loudest cheers with these lines: “This election is about the 12 million people living in the shadows, the communities taking immigration enforcement into their own hand. They are counting on us to stop the hateful rhetoric filling our airwaves, and rise above the fear, and rise above the demagoguery, and finally enact comprehensive immigration reform.”

Obama complimented John McCain for championing the comprehensive immigration package that died in the Senate last year — and that helped (temporarily) sink his primary campaign. The bill, which would have created a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, inflamed widespread anti-immigration sentiment. Congress was deluged with calls, emails and faxes expressing opposition.

Since then, most politicians have kept the issue out of the spotlight. McCain has even made a pledge to tackle border security before any other changes — a reversal Obama made sure to point out Wednesday.

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I think it’s time for a president who won’t walk away from comprehensive immigration reform when it becomes politically unpopular,” he said.

Obama makes frequent mention of his healthcare and energy proposals on the stump, and his aides have said those will be the top priorities in the first year of his administration. A deal on immigration could still be elusive even with bigger Democratic majorities in Congress, given the success of Republican opponents who stopped two previous attempts to get the bill past the Senate in the summer of 2007. Those proposals had the support of President George W. Bush.

Obama pointed out that the Republican Party platform didn’t include language on a comprehensive immigration deal, saying McCain didn’t “stand up to opponents of reform at his own convention.”

The McCain campaign took the unorthodox approach of not forcing his positions into the party’s platform this year, but his campaign did make an effort to block one new proposal regarding immigration: a plan to deny U.S. citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants.

Obama ended his speech with the words “si se puede,” the Spanish version of his campaign chant “yes we can.” His words were not so much a translation as much as a return to a native tongue — the phrase was used widely in Spanish before Obama adopted it, most often for protest marches and demonstrations


http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/0...ration-policy/

He can walk away from CIR and let it elude like the article says... I just want Dream.

Agreed. The whole enchilada (no pun intended!) would be nice, but in this climate it's like toxic waste; no politician wants to tackle it head on, especially if it includes a legalization program. For now, we should try to make real what the DAP is all about: the DREAM Act.

Obama has said in the past the he believes in passing dream "immediately".

I think it's good that he understands the urgency, and justification of having Dream go into effect asap. Not to be confused with that he "will" pass it immediately.

CIR obviously doesn't have the same nature... lots more variables, and potentially negative consequences that comes with legalizing that big of a population pool.

because the Dream Act is not immigration related

tell that to congress, plus like the article said he wants healthcare and energy first, unless we get really close to a 60 majority in the senate i dont see anything happening next year or the year after.

Im fine with just dream for the time being.
People will have a fit with CIR and perhaps a mere flinch with Dream.

I think.. as long as he does it in his first term, it's okay. But I would like him to work on immigration as soon as possible.

First term means between four years.. but our age will be out after 2-3years. i hope obama will pass Dream Act june 09 or before