Obama, Immigration and the Hispanic Vote
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Is he wasting Hispanics’ patience and votes?
President Obama spoke shortly about immigration reform in his first State of the Union address: “We should continue the work of fixing our broken immigration system – to secure our borders, enforce our laws and ensure that everyone who plays by the rules can contribute to our economy and enrich our nations,” said Obama.
After this, Obama mentioned the word “immigrants” by saying: “In the end, it is our ideals, our values that built America – values that allowed us to forge a nation made up of immigrants from every corner of the globe, values that drive our citizens still.”
Many Latino activists are already expressing their disappointment about the lack of details in the president’s remarks. Some also complain about the fact that immigration seemed to be at the end of many other priorities in Obama´s speech.
Obama talked about securing borders and enforcing laws and affirmed the idea of letting “everyone who plays by the rules” contribute to the U.S. economy.
Diego Graglia a bilingual, multimedia reporter and editor who has published stories in major newspapers and magazines in several Latin American countries and in the United States, points out that immigration reform proponents view Obama as possibly wasting Hispanics’ patience and votes.
His project “Feet in Two Worlds,” intended to bring the work of immigrant and ethnic media journalists to public radio and the web, points out how Rep. Luis Gutiérrez, a Democrat from Illinois, and one of the main supporters of progressive immigration reform is tired of Obama’s lack of action on this matter.
Gutieérrez told the Mexican news service “Notimex” the reform movement should set a March 21 deadline for the Democratic administration to get the issue started. If not, Gutiérrez believes that Hispanics “will have to reflect on the idea of a punishment with a vote of absence in the next elections” in order to ensure that the Hispanic power and importance are felt.
Also interviewed by the Los Angeles Times, Gutiérrez reiterated that “people are angry and disillusioned” at Obama, after he dedicated a “throwaway line” to immigration during his State of the Union speech.
Last weekend, New York “Daily News” columnist Albor Ruiz urged the optimists “to take off the blindfold and face the harsh reality.” For Ruiz, it is almost incomprehensible that after Obama’s address to Congress and the nation that some pro-immigration-reform groups continue to delude themselves and feed immigrants false hope.
Ruiz said the short paragraph Obama dedicated to the issue near the end of his speech were “at best an afterthought, at worse a bone thrown to the immigration community to keep it wagging its tail and hoping against all hope.”
Writing for “Southern Political Review,” John A. Tures, Associate Professor of Political Science at LaGrange College, Georgia, commented how Hispanics are far more socially conservative on issues of gay rights and abortion than whites.
These are topics and issues that may be of more interests to U.S. Hispanics than immigration reform in itself. The case in point is John McCain who tried to push immigration reform and only got 31% of the Latino vote.
As Tures points out in his article looking at the Massachusetts election: “Hispanics are proud folks who don’t like taking shots just because of their last name. But clearly Hispanics rejected Coakley’s pro-immigrant policy, showing that maybe Hispanics don’t believe in unfettered immigration or rewarding those who jumped in line ahead of those who came here legally.”
According to Tures: “It’s a wake-up call for Democrats, who not only take Hispanics for granted, but misunderstand what they want. It’s also a message for Republicans: don’t slam a growing segment of the population who is otherwise receptive to your views.”
Already in February of 2010 and with only nine months before the midterm elections, the question is: What will Obama do about immigration?
The Americano
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