politics, when the going gets tough, the tough have to get very, very smart.
After days of bad news, bumbles and bobbles, Barack Obama got smart last week. In fact, he got downright brilliant.
Bypassing the sucking, hopeless, sinkhole that is the U.S. Congress, Obama announced a new immigration policy, one that invokes an old, and therefore legal, power: He is taking “deferred action” on whether to proceed against hundreds of thousands of people who came to this country illegally.
(Also on POLITICO: Poll: Big support for immigration plan)
It is not permanent. He, or any other president, can revoke it. And therein lies part of the brilliance.
Obama is saying to young immigrants who are in school, have graduated from high school or served in the U.S. military and have not gotten in trouble with the law: OK, you can stay. For now.
Further, you can travel on the passport of your country of origin (Mexico or China, for instance) and be allowed back into the United States.
And you will be given a card called an Employment Authorization Document that will allow you to legally get a job.
But what the president did not do is also important. Nobody will be handed a permanent resident card, commonly called a green card. Nobody is being promised citizenship or is being put on a path to citizenship.
And, importantly, you have to come “out of the shadows” and apply for your EAD card. You must register. The card will bear your photograph and fingerprint and a number that allows you to be tracked. You also have to pay your taxes.
So far, Hispanic and civil rights groups have hailed this as a good deal. It is not the DREAM Act, which would have put people on track for a green card and eventual citizenship. But versions of the DREAM Act have been kicking around for years, and in 2010 the Republicans in the Senate blocked it.
Obama has now done an end run around Congress, and Republicans are howling that the White House has acted politically. Wow. I’ll bet there’s gambling in Casablanca, too.
Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a Cuban-American, has been talking about introducing his own semi-DREAM Act for a while. Rubio appears to be on a shortlist as a running mate for Mitt Romney, who may see Rubio as a way to attract Hispanic voters.
Only 3.5 percent of the Hispanics in this country have a Cuban heritage, while 63 percent have a Mexican heritage. But Rubio could have gotten significant Hispanic support for the Republican ticket by introducing an immigration bill. And if he had introduced his bill, how could the Democrats have voted against it?
But Rubio dithered. He never introduced an immigration bill. And while Rubio was talking, Obama was taking action. Rubio is now shocked, dismayed and embarrassed.
Read more:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0612/77554.html#ixzz1yG6NeCCa
