Obama's lie about immigration reform

Silvio Canto, Jr.

Yes, Univision did a nice job in asking serious and respectful questions. At the same time, the president was allowed once again to rewrite history with respect to immigration reform.

For the record, I do not support amnesty, "sanctuary cities" or the latest executive decree legalizing "dreamers" by going around Congress.

I do support a rational immigration reform that allows US employers to hire people legally if they can't find those workers up here. My idea is based on the "brasero" program that was so successful in the 1950's and 60s.

In other words, I want an immigration policy that makes sense for the US economy, whether we are talking about people picking lettuce or sophisticated engineers.

During the Univision interview, President Obama was confronted about his "promise" to pass immigration reform. Unfortunately, he was once again allowed to blame others or to "pander" to Hispanics by pretending that he fought for immigration reform.

This is from the interview:

""My biggest failure so far is we haven't gotten comprehensive immigration reform done," Obama said. "But it's not because for lack of trying or desire, and I'm confident we are going to accomplish that." ..."

In fact, that's not what happened.

Obama had 60 votes in the Senate and a large majority in the House. He did not need a single GOP vote to pass some type of reform. The truth is that he did not try. He took Hispanics for granted. He showed zero respect for the millions who voted for him in 2008.

Furthermore, the president did not call the congressional leaders and demand a reform. Unlike President Bush, who spoke to the nation in 2006, President Obama was dead silent about the issue. He gave "Cinco de Mayo" speeches but never followed them with any proposals or calls to Congress.

Last, but not least, the president and the Democrats did not put The Dream Act to a vote before the 2010 election. They waited until after the election, or when most Dems did not have electoral consequences.

Again, why does the Spanish speaking media allow the president to pander to Hispanics with explanations like these?

My theory is that Obama did not push immigration because he knew that he didn't have the votes. In other words, he had the majority but not the votes because of the conflicts in the Democratic party over immigration reform.

Again, we congratulate Univision for taking off their "in the tank swimsuits" and dressing up like journalists. At the same time, we are still disappointed that the president got away with rewriting history.

Maybe the other media guys will force him to explain his rewriting of history and challenge his "double speak" on immigration reform.