Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Obama's goal in 2013? To accomplish comprehensive immigration reform
Posted by Mitch Perry on Wed, Oct 24, 2012 at 7:36 PM
In the piece, the president is asked probably the biggest question that political analysts and Mitt Romney have been asking in recent weeks: What are his plans for the next four years?
Obama said he intends on getting what D.C. folks have described as a "grand bargain" done within the first six months of 2013 — a plan to reduce the deficit a la Simpson-Bowles, the debt reduction plan he rejected last year. Obama said his idea is "$2.50 worth of cuts for every dollar in spending, and work to reduce the costs of our health care programs."
One would believe that House Republicans, who've worked to stymie many of Obama's goals, would want to work with him in 2013 if in fact the American people re-elect him.
His second idea is to try to accomplish comprehensive immigration reform, something he never tried in his first term in office.
The second thing I’m confident we’ll get done next year is immigration reform. And since this is off the record, I will just be very blunt. Should I win a second term, a big reason I will win a second term is because the Republican nominee and the Republican Party have so alienated the fastest-growing demographic group in the country, the Latino community. And this is a relatively new phenomenon. George Bush and Karl Rove were smart enough to understand the changing nature of America. And so I am fairly confident that they’re going to have a deep interest in getting that done. And I want to get it done because it’s the right thing to do and I've cared about this ever since I ran back in 2008.
Cynics — particularly Latinos — might question the president's sincerity on this issue. But when Republicans say Obama had two years to achieve this goal when his party controlled the House and Senate, it's a bit more complex.
Alberto Martinez, a spokesman for Romney, told Fox News "It's a fascinating glimpse into how President Obama has taken the Hispanic community for granted for the past four years."
That's been the GOP line, but what Martinez and others don't say is whether they would have worked with Obama on immigration reform. They didn't on health care and the stimulus, would they have on immigration?
Mitt Romney has said he would veto the DREAM Act, legislation that would have allowed a path to citizenship for non-American-born children of undocumented immigrants if they meet certain education or service requirements. Romney has always said he supports a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who serve in the military. He has also said that he would end an Obama administration policy allowing some young undocumented immigrants to stay in the country and work, though anyone already granted a reprieve from possible deportation wouldn't see that permission revoked.
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