Is Obama A True Believer in Immigration Reform?

Ruben Navarrette is perhaps one of the best reporters on this messy issue of immigration reform. Partly because he has a habit of making both sides mad by pointing out some facts they wish to ignore.

He has column up though that I am in slight disagreement with. See Still a Chance for Immigration Reform

I have huge doubts if the issue will come up this year. Getting this through Congress with the economy and unemployment is nearly a impossible task. You do not only have the issue of earned legalization (or what some people call Amnesty) but the issue of Guest worker. A sane guest worker plan is just one of the critical components in making sure we don't have this same problem 20 years later. How do you get a guest worker program through in this economy.

Regardless this is not what he focuses on and is thus not my main object of disagreement.

He says in a way two contradictory things about our President.

This debate isn't as simple as Blue and Red. There are Republicans who support comprehensive immigration reform and Democrats who oppose it, both because they fear fallout over supporting earned legalization and because they're beholden to unions who oppose reform if it includes a plan for additional guest workers. Let's remember that it was Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and other Democrats, including then-Sen. Barack Obama, who helped thwart immigration reform both in 2006 and 2007 -- in part because they wanted to keep it alive as an issue and portray the GOP as the main obstacle to reform to rally Latino support for Democrats in 2008.

Then in the next paragraph he says

Judging from the debate over health care, Obama is a true believer -- what opponents call an ideologue -- who won't stop pushing for something he supports just because the political equation in Washington has changed. Call it determination or stubbornness, but he might just decide to double down and push even harder.
-- Obama understands that, in order to have a successful administration, a president needs to do more than give speeches. He needs to put points on the board. If health care reform is, in fact, doomed now because of Brown's victory, then Obama will need another cause to trumpet. That could be immigration reform.

and

If Obama breaks the one major promise he made to Latino voters -- to deliver comprehensive immigration reform -- this will make it tough for him to face the Latino community as he campaigns for re-election. And Democrats can't afford a sizable bloc of voters becoming so disillusioned with Obama's version of "hope and change" that they don't turn out to help re-elect him.

Let us take the first two paragraphs. Does anyone see the contradiction. If President Obama is a true believer and feels that current situation is a huge injustice then why did he play politics with it in 2006 and in a fantastic way in 2007.

The then Senator Obama had a choice in those years. He could take a stand and help correct the problems , or he could play politics and defeat the bill so to rob bad ole Bush of a victory and to rob his then potential opponent John McCain of a victory.

President Obama decided that the people and children living in the shadows were expendable for his personal political and the Democrat Party's gain.

DOES THIS SOUND LIKE A TRUE BELIEVER?

But will Latinos and others revolt again President Obama if he does not press this issue. I mean really press and not just put on a show.

Well they pretty much got snookered in 2008. They in large numbers voted against the man that put his political career on the line for them and voted for the man that played politics for personal gain with a issue that was dear to them

Now this is not all their fault . The media did not call out Obama and Reid on this and thus I suspect many Latinos (and others) were not aware.

The only one calling them out was REUBEN NAVAREETE. Sadly most of these people were not reading Real Clear Politics.

Washington Media(mostly Liberal and Dems) understood the procedural shenanigans that Reid and Obama were doing. They were silent for the sake of the greater cause. Portions of the conservative media that opposed immigration reform were silent too.

I hate to say it but Catholic Social Justice groups that painted President Obama in glowing terms failed to hardly give McCain credit on this issue. Despite immigration reform being in the top three Catholic Social Justice concerns of the United States Bishops. The only consistent Catholic voice I hard mention this was Archbishop Chaput.

ormer Conservative then Obama supporter Doug Kmiec failed to even mention all this in his weekly pleas for Mr Catholics Social Justice Senator Obama.

Partly because so many of the troops in these groups are hard core democrats. The people living in the shadows were expendable for the bigger goal of the Health Care Bill.

So why should it be different in the future. I am hopeful and I going to do my best to get the message out to demographics that support immigration reform of the above facts. However my tribe will be small on this.

Further Reuben needs to read an article he posted just a month ago. See The Grinch Who Stole Immigration Reform

Now Pelosi has tipped her hand. Last week, according to the Capitol Hill newspaper The Hill, she privately assured fellow representatives not to worry about having to address immigration reform and other controversial issues until the Senate acts first. Concerned that voters will react negatively to a proposal to legalize millions of illegal immigrants, Pelosi is promising to protect vulnerable members' seats.
Actually, change that to "protect Pelosi's job." After all, if Democrats lose the majority in the 2010 election, she'll lose her speakership. No more flights on government planes. Once reduced to backbencher, Pelosi might have to do the unthinkable -- fly commercial.
And what's this nonsense about waiting for the Senate to act? You might think this is about seeking cover from the upper chamber. Not so. If House Democrats feel vulnerable and think that the immigration debate could cost them support back home, then they're going to avoid it like H1N1 whether the Senate has taken action or not.
What Pelosi is counting on is that by passing the buck to "the world's greatest deliberative body," the deliberation will turn into dithering, delay and derailment. Then the House can skirt the issue that Rahm Emanuel, former Pelosi lieutenant and current White House chief of staff, has called "the third rail of American politics." You touch it, you die.
Pelosi is throwing cold water on the prospects for immigration reform just as Rep. Luis Gutierrez has introduced an immigration bill that, while not perfect, at least starts the conversation. As Gutierrez was trying to get the legislation on its feet, Pelosi cut it off at the knees. That's not a good look.

Are Latinos and others aware of this backroom game? Are those 50,000 illegal Irish aliens in Massachusetts aware of it and those that support their cause.

Again it is great that The Hill newspaper is reporting this but the rest of the national press is not. It appears the deal has been made. We also saw that Nancy Pelosi did no real heavy lifting on the immigration effort in 2007. There were other important priorities. Such as making Bush look bad and damaging the GOP and McCain.

Why should we think it will be any different this time.