As one who has an interest in the issue of our nation’s immigration policies, I’ll be waiting to see what the president has to say tonight.
BUT
WHILE MANY political pundits and observers are getting all worked up over what
they’re claiming will be a grotesque abuse of political power on behalf of
people they’d sooner see removed from the nation, I’m wondering if the result
of what we get is going to be something so weak and miniscule that “lame” would
be the most accurate way to describe it.
Of
course, doing anything at all will offend the ideologues. So to be honest, I
don’t care what they have to say later Thursday and in coming days and weeks.
They’ve been upset ever since the day Obama first considered running for
president. There’s no pleasing them.
Thus
far, Obama has refused during his presidency to push for serious immigration
reform. Republicans in Congress have made their opposition known, and Obama has
been willing to defer to them.
That
is why the growing Latino population in this country is becoming less and less
supportive of the president. Although to be honest, it should be said that the
strong shares of the Latino electorate that Obama took in 2008 and 2012
election cycles were more about showing contempt for the Republican challengers
than any real support for Obama.
I
WON’T BE surprised if any GOP response to what Obama does Thursday night will
wind up offending Latino voters to the extent that they will back whomever
Democrats nominate for president over any Republican candidate!
But
what will the president do? I honestly believe he’s still going to try to cater
to the opposition’s hostility by crafting a proposal that will be miniscule and
impact as few individuals as possible.
Thus
far, Obama used his “executive order” powers to protect from the threat of
deportation young people who were born elsewhere, but have lived the bulk of
their lives in the United States. I have heard one theory that he could extend
such protection to their parents.
Which
is nice; it’s cute. But it’s still far short of fixing the bureaucratic mess
that is our immigration policy. There will still be many millions of people
being impacted negatively. All because some people want federal law to
reinforce their own personal ethnic and racial hang-ups, rather than serve the nation’s
needs.
THE
COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION reform measure that has been discussed in Congress
for years is the way to go because it would resolve the mess in one shot –
rather than piecemeal. Having congressional action and presidential approval
would be best for a permanent solution.
The
flaw of an executive order is that any future president can repeal it at his or
her whim. And you just know there will be an ideologically-inclined future
occupant of the White House who will make it Priority One to do so.
Which
would put a few million people in an even more precarious position than they are
already in! That would be the ‘negative’ that the Latino electorate would be
inclined to hold against the Obama administration’s legacy.
Admittedly,
it is better to see Obama take some sort of action on Thursday rather than do
nothing – which is the advice way too many conservative-oriented political
observers want him to follow because it means their interests prevail.
BUT
DEPENDING ON how wide-ranging his latest action will be will determine whether or
not the president is doing the right thing.
Because
the last thing anybody in our society needs is some sort of presidential action
meant to create a political talking point that allows Obama to say he did
something on immigration reform – without actually creating a policy that
benefitted anybody.
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