by Mike Dorning
Barack Obama plans to charge later today that John McCain "abandoned" immigration reform in order to win the Republican party's presidential nomination.
The accusation, contained in a speech text the campaign released in advance of an appearance later this afternoon before the League of United Latin American Citizens, renews a charge that Obama made in late June at a convention of Hispanic elected officials.
The Obama campaign points to a statement McCain made during the Jan. 30 Republican debate at the Reagan library in which McCain said he would not support comprehensive immigration legislation he had previously sponsored in the U.S. Senate. The immigration reform legislation included a pathway to citizenship for illegal aliens that was deeply unpopular among the Republican party's political base of social conservatives.
Obama and McCain are now engaged in a struggle to win support from Hispanic voters, which are a key constituency in the general election battleground states of Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and Florida. McCain recently vowed to a Latino group in Washington that comprehensive immigration reform that includes a route to citizenship for undocumented immigrants would be his "top priority" as president.
But Obama appears determined to remind Hispanic groups of McCain's earlier comments during the primary at every possible turn.
"I know Senator McCain used to buck his party on immigration by fighting for comprehensive reform, and I admired him for it," Obama plans to say today. "But when he was running for his party's nomination, he abandoned his courageous stance, and said that he wouldn't even support his own legislation if it came up for a vote.
"Well, for eight long years, we've had a President who made all kinds of promises to Latinos on the campaign trail, but failed to live up to them in the White House, and we can't afford that anymore," the prepared remarks continue. "We need a President who isn't going to walk away from something as important as comprehensive reform when it becomes politically unpopular."
Obama promised to make immigration reform "a top priority" if elected president.
"We have to finally bring undocumented immigrants out of the shadows," Obama plans to say. "Yes, they broke the law. And they should have to pay a fine, and learn English, and go to the back of the line. That's how we'll put them on a pathway to citizenship. That's how we'll finally fix our broken immigration system and avoid creating a servant class in our midst."
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Comments
Assuming that Obama's right (which he's not and hardly ever is in life) where does that put the esteemed do nothing senator from Illinois on the issue? Oh, that's right, never having shown any leadership at all. At least McCain had an issue to abandon. Obama was never even a participant in the discussion.
Posted by: Jeff | July 8, 2008 3:49 PM
my husband has been searching for employment as a marine engineer in forida for the past 3 years and we cannot finda job because of the imigration rules. a lot of employers cannot bebothered to go through the correct procedures to sponcer him and yet if you are illigal you have a better chance at employment in the usa. my husband has served with the british royal navy for the last 24 years and has a bachelors degree in engineering and is half way through a masters and still to no avail
Posted by: wendy smith | July 8, 2008 3:57 PM
McCain was a political coward on this issue. When the going got tough, he abandoned those who counted on him. He didn't even bother to show up for the final vote. There are a lot of people who won't forget that. There are a lot of people who know they can't depend on Senator McCain to back up his rhetoric. They know that McCain is all talk and nothing more.
Posted by: Luis | July 8, 2008 4:06 PM
Both candidates just don't get it. Americans spoke last year about what we thought of AMNESTY, oh sorry, comprehensive reform. We do not feel that lawbreakers deserve citizenship. Both the candidates pandering to the Mexicans is making me want to puke. I don't want to vote for either of them !!
Posted by: Deb | July 8, 2008 4:30 PM
Is there anything that John McBush hasn't flip-flopped on?
Here's John McCain debating...John McCain, on immigration:
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUYTUbJy71k
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Posted by: John E | July 8, 2008 4:30 PM
Luis, that's not true at all but again it's better to be a has been like McCain, in that case, then a never was like Obama.
Posted by: Jeff | July 8, 2008 4:44 PM
"OBAMA SPEAKS"
I HAVE A DREAM, AND SO DO YOU!
I HAVE A DREAM, AND SO DO THEY!
I HAVE A DREAM, AND SO DOES JOHN MCCAIN AND "HUNT OIL"
I HAVE A DREAM, AND SO DOES "TRENT LOTT"
I HAVE A DREAM, AND SO DOES "HALEY" LINDSEY AND JOE LIEBERMAN
I HAVE A DREAM, AND SO DOES "SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY"
I HAVE A DREAM, AND SO DOES AN "EMPTY BORDER SECURITY ACCOUNT"
I HAVE A DREAM, AND COMPREHENSIVE AS IT MAY BE, JOHN MCCAIN DREAM IS "PRIVATE HELD SOCIAL SECURITY ACCOUNTS" WITH 11 MILLION "Z" PEOPLE PAYING INTO.
I HAVE A DREAM, AND BY REMOVING ATTORNEY GENERAL, IN CONSULTATION WITH THE COMMISSIONER OF IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION AND INSERTING SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY!
THERE IS NO DREAM!
THERE IS NO IMMIGRATION REFORM, JUST "PROFILING, DETAINING, FORCED "ATTESTATIONS" FORCED "AUDIT OF ATTESTATIONS" ENCARCERATIONS AND DEPORTATIONS OF MILLIONS HIDING IN THE SHADOWS OF AMERICA!
JOHN MCCAIN COULD CARE LESS ABOUT IMMIGRANTS!
CAFTA, OR NAFTA.
Posted by: Roger Morris | July 8, 2008 5:12 PM
The immigration issue has been corrupted by the real offenders - the employers who pay less than minimum wages to those illegal immigrants. If there are no jobs, there would be no illegal immigrants - that simple.
Now to the problem. Illegal immigrants have to come out of the shadows, either through forced methods or through denial of the civil liberties/privileges which are afforded to citizens or legal residents. When you have certain states giving welfare and health benefits to illegal immigrants, that is not going to solve the problem; all these humane methods do is build resentment on tthe part of the American taxpayer who pays for these services and encourages more illegal immigrant to cross over to the U.S.
The highest percentage of illegal immigrants come from Mexico. The U.S. needs to address this issue with the Mexican government rather than try to deal with it alone. If the Mexican government turns a blind eye to the situation, then the U.S. should use some of its economic and poltical muscle to get cooperation.
Methods toward legalization:
1) Set a date for all illegals to come out of the shadows and apply for residency with preconditions - 1) who hired them (monetary penalty on the employer and 2) return to their home country for a period of one year with a guarantee of legal re-entry and all its privileges.
2) For all those illegals who do not come out of the shadows and the employers who hire them - stiff penalties including a fine, imprisonment and deportation.
Two choices - cut and dry. Which do you think will be chosen by those hardworking, honest illegal immigrants? The other illegals may just be the characters who should be rounded up and deported.
Posted by: the truth | July 8, 2008 6:10 PM
Jeff-
What's not true? Did McCain show up to vote? No he didn't. Does he still back that bill? No he doesn't . He cut and ran to save his political hide.
Posted by: Luis | July 8, 2008 6:35 PM
Here's what we should do: Bring all the US troops home. Station some on the US-Mexican border and use the rest to round up all illiegals. Then give them a choice: Career military service for the US with immediate citizenship for them, their spouse and children; or a one-way ticket to south of the border which will now be strongly guarded. Now all our troops are home, and if even half of the illegals accept the offer, we could have a 5-million man army! And the illegals, rather than being a drain on our economy, are now productive members of society. Mahmoud Imanutjob would have a heart attack!
Posted by: drillforoilnow | July 8, 2008 7:01 PM
This is just one more reason why I believe we have no leaders in Washington and why we will still lack adult leadership after the November election. A minimum requirement for any leader in a representative democracy is respect for the rule of law. If you cannot respect laws, you cannot respect the people who make them or interpret them, much less the people who elect those entrusted to enforce the laws, and you can't be trusted with the job of enforcement.
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More to the point, however, is the fact that anyone who wishes to replicate Reagan's 1986 mistaken experiment in amnesty has no respect for the rule of law either. It did not work. We just got more illegal immigrants as a result. If we do not start enforcing the immigration laws, we will end up with many more millions of illegal immigrants, regardless of whether the government eventually passes a "comprehensive" amnesty bill. We will then face be facing the same problems with no better answers. Thus, it makes it easy for me to stay home on Election Day knowing that Obambi and McCain care more about pandering to interest groups to get elected than enforcing the laws.
Posted by: John W. | July 9, 2008 12:01 AM
I AGREE WITH DEB THEY BOTH DONT GET IT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE are tired of illegal s having more right s than we do getting more service s than we do close the boarder deport all illegal s no matter where they are from so american s can have decent job s
Posted by: SHOW ME | July 9, 2008 5:26 AM
Luis, it didn't matter if McCain "showed up to vote" or not. He knew they didn't have the votes to pass the bill. By not voting he saved the ability to reintroduce the same bill for a vote later in the term. It's called parliamentary procedure, you should learn it.
Meanwhile, Obama sat on his hands and did nothing as usual. McCain used every tactic he knew in the senate book to keep that bill alive and Obama did nothing. That's the difference.
McCain wants comprehensive immigration reform and Obama only started publicly saying he wants it since McCain said on the campaign trail that he did. McCain has at least five years of leadership on the issue that show me he's serious about comprehensive reform. Obama has... a couple of pages about it in one of his two autobiographies. You tell me which one's the leader.
Posted by: Jeff | July 9, 2008 10:30 AM
Jeff-
Obama supported the bill to the end. He voted to support it. He didn't run away and hide like McCain.
Did McCain reintroduce the bill later? No he didn't. He publically disavowed it instead. He repeatedly made that clear during the Republican Primaries that he no longer supports the bill.. McCain surrendered his leadreship on this issue. He abandoned those who supported him. We aren't going to forget that. We know if the going gets tough again McCain all we'll see of McCain is a cloud of dust as he runs for cover.
Posted by: Luis | July 9, 2008 11:48 AM