On immigration, Obama is bound by race and politics
As the son of an immigrant and as a black man, Obama's political image depends on a racial identity even while downplaying it, making immigration reform problematic...
From Salon.com
What an awkward position Barack Obama was in Thursday! Welcoming the Mexican president, Felipe Calderón, to the White House, he could offer only boilerplate rhetoric about immigration: “In the 21st century, we are defined not by our borders, but by our bonds. So I say to you and to the Mexican people, let us stand together.”
With his crammed domestic agenda and teetering approval ratings, President Obama is moseying away from immigration reform before the midterm elections. Even as he denounces Arizona’s drastic new measure, law-professor-style, the president is sending mixed signals. In an episode still rankling Latino advocates, the president recently declared that Congress might not have the “appetite” to push for reform — just as Democratic senators were poised to roll out … a reform agenda.
Further clouding Obama’s message is the fact that more immigrants were deported during his first year in office — more than 388,000 — than any other year in the republic’s history. To progressives, the president’s apparent “security first” approach makes it seem as though he’s trying to appease conservatives at the expense of Latinos.
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