There is no doubt that DosCentavos’ biggest dissapointment of Obama’s first year in office was his failure to put forth a good immigration policy. In my opinion, this should have been the first piece of legislation out of the chute–even before health care reform. Obviously, we saw that Republicans used immigration as a means to begin the gutting of health care reform, so, 2010 does not hold much promise for a meaningful, progressive piece of legislation.
I’m just being honest.
Initial reports show that the Obama administration supports a citizenship proposal; however, this was also said throughout the campaign. Though most had no choice but to play the wait and see game with the administration, I knew that with Rahm Emanuel at the helm, there would be no movement. And now, we see these type of stories.
As an aide to President Clinton, Emanuel co-wrote a memo on the political dynamics of immigration. He and Ron Klain, now the top aide to Vice President Joe Biden, wrote in 1994: “We must be seen as taking proper, forceful steps to seriously address the immigration problem without alienating the Hispanic and civil rights constituencies.
“Our goal is not to outdo the Republicans, rather to use our achievements and proposals to prevent them from using this as a wedge issue against us.”
The former head of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Doris Meissner, recounted that Emanuel once phoned and berated her over a news story about lax border enforcement in Arizona.
“This kind of press is killing us,” Meissner quoted Emanuel as saying. During the call, he instructed her to send border agents to the area immediately. “He had no authority whatsoever to give me orders,” Meissner said.
But Emanuel was constantly pressing his colleagues in the Clinton White House to push what he termed a “balanced” immigration policy — including enforcement and stepped-up grants of citizenship.
If anyone is a danger to Obama’s Latino base it is Rahm Emanuel. Frankly, we progressives can only blame Republicans so much. The bottom line, when we Democrats have the power to put forth legislation and fail to do so, then it becomes our fault as Democrats. In 2009, there was even a window of opportunity to put forth and pass a truly bipartisan-supported bill–The DREAM Act. Yet, when DosCentavos asked DNC Chairman Kaine about it, he avoided the issue.
As we begin 2010, it is time for the Latino leadership in Congress to begin calling out those who are truly serving as obstructionists to what is a human rights cause.
The Democrats have a lot of work to do in 2010.
