by
but don't worry, a lot of other folks got Punk'd too
Posted on 11/20/2008 5:42:50 PM PST by Coleus
To put it mildly, expectations are high that Obama - himself the product of an immigrant father - can deliver on the dicey reform proposals that divided Congress and the nation a year ago. It's hard to blame anyone for high hopes, since Obama explicitly vowed on the campaign trail to not only tackle the issue, but do so relatively quickly. As he told the National Council of La Raza in July, "I fought with you in the Senate for comprehensive immigration reform. And I will make it a top priority in my first year as President." Yet there are signs already - largely because of the nation's crushing economic woes - that immigration will once again take a backseat legislatively.
When Obama was asked a few days before the election on CNN to rank five major issues - tax cuts, health care, energy, education and immigration - he added the economy, then dropped immigration altogether. Last week, aides declined to discuss where the issue will fit in his agenda. "Obviously, the wars and the economy come first," said Daniel Kowalski, editor of Bender's Immigration Bulletin, an online resource for immigration law, policy and news.
"Obama is committed to [comprehensive immigration reform] in the long run, and his debt to Latino voters will ensure that he makes good on his promise," added Kowalski. "But it will take time - 2012 at the earliest, probably later" - meaning it would take a second Obama term to get it done. His political debt is real. Exit poll data show Hispanic voters backed Obama by a whopping 2-to-1 margin, helping to deliver much of the Southwest as well as Florida and other big battlegrounds where Republicans have long held sway. Latino support for Obama was higher than the national average in Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico and Virginia - all formerly red states with growing Latino populations that turned blue for Obama, the Pew Hispanic Center found.
Of course there are some measures that Obama, as the new chief executive, can and likely will enact on his own. That includes ending the Bush administration's policy of raiding businesses to ensnare illegal immigrants, a top-to-bottom review of detention policies and facilities where inmates often languish, and clearing the backlog of family members waiting to join legal relatives here. But in terms of the really big conundrums - like what to do about the 12 million illegal immigrants already here and how to establish a new guest-worker program - that may take a while.
One possible roadblock? Organized labor, which also helped get Obama elected and may now take a dim view of any program that makes it easier for illegal immigrants to fill scarce jobs. But immigrant advocates say their patience is limited. "If we don't see change," said Janet Murguía, president of the National Council of La Raza, "I don't think anyone should expect that this bloc of voters will continue to follow [the Democratic Party]."
The clash between unions and hispanic will tear apart the democratic coalition. The GOP will win the votes of almost all white voters by 2050 when whites will only be about half the population.
The lower-end immigration from hispanic countries are almost all socialists and leftists. They are even farther left than the liberal wing of the democratic party economically.
Pro amnesty and illegal hispanics vote democrat. Those with a couple generations in this country don’t seem to hold firm to either party in my experience.
To be followed in short order by the protest demonstration demanding reparations.
Yeah, did the numbers change from 2004 more than a wiggle?
obama must toss a bone to those that elected him. amnesty for the illegals will be one of the first orders of business. this insures his reelection in 08...then some sort of reparations for the blacks...it will look interesting
They have bargained away their political futures on Obama.
The GOP has put themselves into a typical stupid trap, if Hispanics go Democrat in the Numbers that Blacks do, we will have problems and a doubtful political future.
To me, GWB and Mac really really screwed this whole thing up, Hispanics in the SW and FL should be natural SoCon Republicans, but they tried to cram Amnesty down our throats with no Security on the Border, no acknowledgment of the Existing Law...just *poof* 45 million new Citizens..
Foolish.
mccain had a very muted values campaign. all he did was talk about foreign policy or economics. Bush showed his soul and that is probably why he did better with that group.
No, I work with Mexicans and the deal was if they elected Obamao, they would get their papers to stay in the US, no fine, none of that, vote Obama, stay in the US.
McCain never operated on that level, he thought his reputation would carry the day and he screwed that one up, another in a long line of mistakes by Camp McCain...
No, that is wrong. Hispanics historically are catholic, family oriented voters. They are pro-life, pro-traditional marriage. Many have fled Marxist regimes. They should vote Republican, and did in the 2000 and 2004 elections.
Ok my questions is, why were these people voting in the millions if they arent here legally.
In 2004, for instance, President Bush got roughly 40% of the Hispanic vote, considered a high-water mark for the GOP in recent years. On Tuesday, Republican John McCain walked away with just 32% Hispanic support, compared with 66% for Obama. Just as important was where Obama drew his Hispanic support. In Florida, 57% of Latinos voted for the Democratic nominee, a reversal of fortune from 2004, when Bush won Sunshine State Hispanics with 56% - providing a critical edge for both candidates in the key battleground, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.
Similarly, Latino support for Obama was higher than the national average in Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico and Virginia - all formerly red states with growing Hispanic populations that turned blue for Obama. There were no Hispanic-specific numbers for New York because not enough voters were polled in the always blue Empire State to draw conclusions, experts said. Experts cited the broad current of anti-immigrant fervor that ran through the Republican primary as the main reason for Obama's success. Although McCain had long championed an immigration reform bill embraced by many Hispanic leaders, he abandoned it amid fierce opposition within his own party.
"He lost his credibility when he said he would not support his own legislation for humane immigration reform," said Maria Teresa Petersen, the founding executive director of Voto Latino. "That was the last leg of the stool." Now, many see an opportunity for Obama to bring Hispanics deeper into the Democratic fold, perhaps with a top Hispanic cabinet appointment (New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson is considered a top contender) or legislation that addresses issues like jobs, immigration reform or educational inequities. "I've been calling Latinos the soccer moms of 2008," Petersen said. "Now the opportunity is there for the Democrats to make them a firm base of the party."
Because there is no enforcement of the law...none...sign here..vote there...
GWB...GAK!
'Fraid not. It's true that Bush got historically high numbers of Hispanics in 2000 and '04. But his percentage of the Hispanic vote both times was in the range of 35-40%.
Normally, the Republican gets no more than 25-30% of the Hispanic vote.
To a degree, these numbers are polluted by the illegal vote -- how can illegal aliens vote in our elections, you might ask -- but we've no way of knowing for sure (other than estimating, with confidence, that approx. 99.9% of the illegal vote is Democrat).
Boy, I was really wrong on that one, wasn’t I? I got my information from an obviously flawed source...
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