According to an opinion piece by Rubin Navarette, Jr. that appeared on mercurynews.com: “For Latinos who assume that helping to elect Obama president guarantees them another shot at comprehensive immigration reform, his selection of Rep. Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff is not a good sign. As Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s enforcer in the Democratic-controlled House, Emanuel was in the last two years a major stumbling block to achieving an immigration package. Capitol Hill newspapers reported shouting matches between Emanuel and members of the Democratic-controlled Congressional Hispanic Caucus, who tried unsuccessfully to pressure the leaders of their party to tackle the issue.”
Interesting analysis. However, Obama campaigned on the idea hope and “Yes We Can” was his slogan. In Spanish, this is roughly translated into “Si, se puede” which is the motto of the United Farm Workers developed in 1972 and was most recently used in the 2006 Immigration Reform Protests around the country. It would be a shame if the issue were not addressed for political reasons and I believe it would hurt Obama if he came up for reelection as he would lose credibility with Latino voters. Moreover, Obama presented himself as a new kind of President who campaigned on the idea of “Change” and the old rules of constantly jockeying for position in Washington and avoiding facing tough issues head on should be a thing of the past. In the coming weeks, immigration protests will be taking place around the country and hopefully these will force the Administration to state what if anything it intends to do to address this issue.
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