America's Hispanics need a Leader in the White House, not a Politician We can't Trust

 

SANTA FE, NM (By Jon Garrido, The Jon Garrido Network) May 30, 2011 — Most Hispanics in the USA know President Barack Obama is lying to U.S. Hispanics on immigration issues.

 

Even some of Obama's closest Democratic allies have known about this for a long time but finally are now publically acknowledging Obama is simply paving the road for the 2012 election placing the blame for inaction on Immigration Reform on the Republicans.

 

We all know Obama is not an ardent advocate for Hispanics. He has no empathy for us so he does not understand the hardship created by the ever present danger/fear of deportation away from family and return to a much lesser life away from the United States.

 

Because of this, Obama is not sincere regarding Immigration Reform and all so called advocacy is simply for show posturing for 2012.

 

In his May 10 speech in El Paso, Texas, Obama stated only Congress can propose legislation to overhaul Immigration Reform.

 

This is partially true for the role of Congress given by the U.S. Constitution is to write federal legislation but the President of the United States also has the authority and power to steer legislation from the White House using the someone in the House or Senate to carry the water.

 

This is exactly the process Obama successfully used to obtain approval of Health Care Reform; a process where Obama was directly involved in the smallest detail writing health care legislation, twisting arms and offering deals to win sufficient votes for passage.

 

This is the definition of a leader.

 

This direct involvement was germinated in the 2008 presidential election campaign when Obama pledged he would orchestrate passage of Immigration Reform during his first year in office. He made the same pledge in the second year of his presidency but again failed to carry the football into the end zone for a touch down. He did not even come close to scoring.

 

Immigration reform for Obama is not the same as health care reform. The obvious reason is Obama has no empathy for Hispanics but rather does as little as he has to win Hispanic votes.

 

Obama’s campaign rhetoric may help win Hispanic votes in the 2012 election by placing blame on congressional Republicans as the stumbling block for immigration reform, but Obama’s rhetoric is creating false expectations among Hispanics.

What has been known since 2009 and is now being publically stated by a growing number of Democrats in Congress and Latino leaders across the USA is Obama’s immigration reform campaign is political posturing because the president knows full well he can not get the needed votes for congressional passage of comprehensive immigration reform in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

So what should Obama do?

 

Rep. Luis Gutierrez, a Democratic congressman from Chicago on a national tour, is denouncing Obama's immigration stand. Gutierrez claims Obama is playing games with Hispanics by claiming to be fighting for comprehensive immigration reform at in the same breath, Obama has Napolitano doing massive deportations of people who should not be deported.

 

Gutierrez tells his national tour audiences this deportation strategy to win Republican supporters for passage of Immigration Reform does not work and Obama in lieu of deportations should use the President's discretionary powers that do not require congressional approval.
 

First, Obama could use existing presidential powers to stop deportations of the estimated 65,000 undocumented students who were brought to the United States as children and graduate from high school every year then going on to college join the armed forces. Obama has called repeatedly for congressional passage of the Dream Act knowing full well of there is zero probability of passage in the Congress blaming failure on the Republicans.

 

This is politically expedient but a better alternative would allow these youths to stay in the United States by using his discretionary powers to delay their deportations until Congress decides on their fate.


Second, Obama should use his executive powers to delay deportation of the parents of the estimated four million U.S.-born children who have at least one parent who does not have legal status.

There is precedent for this action: The Obama administration recently used discretionary powers to give temporary residency status to Haitian immigrants to avoid their deportation to earthquake-devastated Haiti. Why not give similar relief to Mexicans who face deportation to violence-ridden Ciudad Juαrez?

 

So why is Obama not doing any of this?

 

Obama takes the Hispanic vote for granted and does not feel any pressure knowing full well Hispanics will vote for him anyway. Maybe!

 

To reinforce the lack of empathy for Hispanics, Obama does not understand how devastating deportations are for Hispanic families. Deportations are a matter of life and death for Hispanics and have to be taken seriously and not used to deceive the Hispanic community as we approach the 2012 election.

Responding to such criticism, Obama said in his May 10 speech in El Paso, Texas, “I wish I could simply bypass Congress and change the law myself, but that’s not how a democracy works.”

 

Obama claims Immigration Reform must come from the Congress but until Congress acts, the White House claims it is changing the way it enforces deportation procedures, focusing on removing undocumented immigrants with criminal records.

 

This is a deliberate lie. Countless undocumented without criminal records are being deported as evidence of the White House strategy of prioritizing enforcement.

Obama should stop playing this game. Instead of fearing being criticized by Hispanic-phobic anti-immigration zealots for allegedly pursuing a blanket “amnesty” for 11 million undocumented residents, Obama should use his discretionary powers to give temporary status to some categories of immigrants.

For instance, as he said in his State of the Union address, “it makes no sense” to deport thousands of undocumented students who grew up as Americans, or others — including many from China, India and other parts of the world — who came to study in some of the best U.S. universities, and upon obtaining advanced degrees are “sent back home to compete against us.”

 

Obama can stop their deportations, but — all know Obama does not need to or want to.

 

Obama — more politician than leader

 

In his El Paso border speech , President Obama showed once again he is a more masterful politician but less courageous leader than we might have imagined. What will this mean for the country's Hispanics remains deeply uncertain.

 

The president entered this year confident of re-election, but just to be sure, he adopted a clever political strategy to deal with the immigration crisis: Republicans will benefit most from the immigration debate because Obama has presided over massive deportation increases while bobbing and weaving from the sidelines proposing Congress move on immigration reform.

 

In essence, Obama is putting blame on the Republicans for failing to legislate immigration reform for Hispanic voters as he heads toward the 2012 election: On hard issues — the ones that are really hard — the president once again isn't leading; he is delegating.

 

Republicans, of course, say this is a complete distortion. As a politician, Obama was also smart in his May 10 El Paso speech and other recent speeches leaving so little for Republicans to shoot at in his own "plan."

 

On every hard policy question — e.g., would you start taxing employees for health benefits paid by employers — he said he would leave the answers to someone else.

 

"We must limit the growth of Medicare to GDP plus a half percent a year. How? Leave that to an Independent Payment Advisory Board."

 

"We need built-in guarantees to reduce the deficits. How? Leave that to a failsafe mechanism that will automatically kick in around 2014." (never mind that Obama's former budget director says it could be unreliable).

 

Writing a stimulus bill? Leave that to Congress. Coming up with a health care plan? Leave that to Congress. Asserting control over Gadhafi? Leave that to NATO.

 

On the Hispanic priority Obama said in his May 10 speech, "We must reform immigration. How?" Obama said, "Let Congress figure it out."

 

On every national dilemma that will inevitably require public sacrifices, he didn't put forward a single, concrete proposal of his own that would disturb a majority of voters. Clever!

 

But on the hard issues — the ones that are really hard — the president once again isn't leading; he is delegating.

 

But it is that very cleverness that undermines his reputation as a leader. We look up to leaders who have been willing to make hard choices on their own, put them forward with courage and rally people to join them — think of Lincoln, Churchill, and Mandela.

 

Where is that courage in the White House today? Not to found!

 

No one can tell for sure what all of Obama's speeches will do for the future of the USA.

 

These fun and games speeches may be good for electioneering and for television ratings, but they aren't good for the country.

 

I will not support the re-election of Barack Obama unless............

 

Some content from wire services, Miami Herald, and CNN