Posted on 05/09/2009 8:43:48 PM PDT by Steelfish
Obama reverses stance on immigration
Co-opts policy he once mocked
By Stephen Dinan May 8, 2009
On the thorniest of political issues, President Obama has embraced the enforcement-first position on immigration that he criticized during last year's presidential campaign, and he now says he can't move forward with the type of comprehensive bill he wants until voters are convinced that the borders can be enforced.
Having already backed off his pledge to have an immigration bill this year, Mr. Obama boosted his commitment to enforcement in the budget released Thursday.
The spending blueprint calls for extra money to build an employee-verification system and to pay for more personnel and equipment to patrol the border.
This security-first stance is not unlike that of President George W. Bush, Bush Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, who said their immigration bill failed in 2007 because voters didn't trust the government to be serious about enforcement.
"If the American people don't feel like you can secure the borders," Mr. Obama said at his press conference last week, "then it's hard to strike a deal that would get people out of the shadows and on a pathway to citizenship who are already here, because the attitude of the average American is going to be, 'Well, you're just going to have hundreds of thousands of more coming in each year.' "
Republicans say the shift is a sign that Mr. Obama, who during the campaign repeatedly called the issue a priority, is uncertain how to move forward.
"I don't think Barack Obama understands the immigration issue. I don't know that he has spoken about it in any depth during his entire political career," said Rep. Steve King of Iowa, the top Republican on the House Judiciary subcommittee that handles immigration.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Is there anything left that he hasn’t changed his mind on?
Guy's been elected 6 months now and hasn't done anything about unemployment!
So no more ‘si si puede’?
The spending blueprint calls for extra money to build an employee-verification system...
And just where else will the government use this?
This is not a good thing.
This guy flip-flops more than John Kerry...
Better late than never.
Of course I feared during the campaign, that he would shut the door to Mexicans and open the door to Africans. We need to make sure that Kenya or Indonesia isn’t the next country with 90% of it’s citizens in the U.S.
Good sign — it means he’s reacting to the political ramifications even though he has a large majority in Congress. Hopefully that means he’ll slow down on some other issues as well.
You might have it there. I haven’t seen zer0 do anything positive for the USA
COLB, Socialism, Taxes, Spending, to name a few.
Reid said last fall that, if they didn’t get immigration passed within the first 30 days, it would probably get shelved.
This puts Obama up +1 over McCain. +2 actually. Immigration was one of McCain’s darlings. And McCain vowed to close GITMO on Day 1 of his presidency.
At least he changed it in the right direction. However, no matter what the government does, they are never going to be trusted on this issue. As soon as they get their "comprehensive reform," the enforcement will stop.
Don’t buy it. Obama is a practiced deceiver. He says one thing, while he does another. Obama cut the spending on building the border fence this week, while he’s saying we need to convince the people that the border is secure.
“O” lies.
I agree.
He might have gotten a clue about how much money illegals cost in health care, too.
“money to build an employee-verification system”
Don’t we already have e verify?
“WASHINGTON - The new chairman of the Senate immigration subcommittee vowed Thursday to take on comprehensive immigration reform in this session of Congress.”
Above from May 1, 2009. I view this supposed change in emphasis by Obama about like I viewed the same rhetoric from McCain during the Republican primaries. Just a diversionary tactic to divert attention away from the real goal which is amnesty for about 20 million illegals.
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/border/115639.php
Wonder if Obama will be asking those fine Senators to hold off on any action until the border is well secured?
Plus the fact that several posters on other threads have pointed out that Obama’s budget cuts money for the border fence, diverts resources to the Canadian border, as well as plans to end any sort of immigration raid, or workplace raid, etc.
And, this might be just a set up for some enforcement language in an amnesty bill, enforcement language that will be forgotten as soon as an amnesty is passed, just as enforcement language was forgotten in 1987, and ever since.
You bet your sweet bippi he's a deceiver!
Glad to know that you have him figured out. Now I only wished everyone else in here did!
Sho nuff. Plus everything he says has an expiration date. Usually measured in hours. Other then the koolaid drinkers, I cannot find anyone who trusts what he says. Says a lot about the dim party who puts up a guy who had zero trustworthyness. Hell, the Boy Scouts would kick him out for being such a weasel. Or at least give him a blanket party.
“O” lies and I’m afraid that a lot of people are going to die. Just a hunch.
For the AFIRE ping list.
I doubt he’s sincere about following through with an enforcement-first policy, he’s just mouthing the words. But the fact that he is forced to mouth them is a bit of a victory in itself.
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