Candidate Obama Secures the Vote of Undocumented Democrats

Candidate Obama Secures the Vote of Undocumented Democrats
by Roger Hedgecock
05/13/2011

Presidential candidate Barack Obama, seeking the Democratic Party nomination in 2012, stumped for the illegal alien vote in El Paso, Tex., this week, urging Congress to pass an amnesty bill and hitting Republicans for wanting to build a moat at the border and fill it with alligators.

Obama's signature soaring rhetoric extolled the beneficial impact of immigration throughout the history of the United States, citing Einstein and I. M. Pei, and the immigrant founders of Google, Yahoo, Intel, and eBay, smoothly blending the importance of these legal immigrants with the tidal wave of illegals swamping the country's social safety net, prisons, and schools.

After the inspiring reminder of what America owes to past (legal) immigrants, came the trademark slam, the Alinsky left hook. "At times, there has been fear and resentment directed toward newcomers." Translation: Enforcing immigration law is racist.

Then candidate Obama shot a right hook. Apparently aware of the Pew Research Center polling that shows Democrats more split on illegal alien amnesty than Republicans, the candidate pivoted to explain that he himself had enforced immigration law, built the border fence, and cracked down on employers exploiting illegal labor.

Obama also bluntly acknowledged that illegals have been known to break the law, and if so should pay a fine and any back taxes, "learn English" and "undergo background checks" before being allowed to become citizens.

The candidate failed to mention what his campaign website makes clear—under his amnesty proposal, before all of the tough paying of fines and learning English requirements, illegals would be eligible immediately for temporary residency cards that make them legal.

Most states allow legal residents to get a driver's license, and all states are required (under the federal "Motor Voter" law) to register driver's license applicants as voters.

Jackpot! Eleven million new registered Democrat voters just in time for 2012.

The candidate appeared unfazed by contradictions between his inspiring border-control rhetoric and known facts.

The number of Border Patrol (BP) officers has indeed increased, reflecting congressional action during the Bush administration. The candidate says that today "fewer people are attempting to cross the border illegally." But today's BP is ordered to make the statistics look good by ignoring rather than apprehending those who make illegal crossings.

A BP agent, armed with a government-issued bean bag gun, recently died in the Arizona desert going up against an illegal with an AK-47. The illegal's weapon had been sold in the U.S. and smuggled into Mexico under the watchful eyes of Obama's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (a division of the Justice Department) in a sting gone wrong called Operation Gunrunner.

As to border control, the candidate's own Government Accountability Office (GAO) has reported that just 44% of the 1,954-mile border with Mexico is under "operational" control, with just 15% totally controlled.

Candidate Obama asserted that the border fence is "basically complete." In 2006, Congress passed a law requiring a double fence along 700 miles of the border where smuggling was concentrated. To date, the GAO reports just 36.3 miles of that fence has been built.

Candidate Obama's amnesty proposal clashes with political reality too.

Obama did not propose his "comprehensive" reform when his party dominated the last Congress because he knew that there were not sufficient Democratic votes to pass it.

Open-border advocate groups have called candidate Obama's bluff by demanding that he ignore Congress and issue an Executive Order stopping all deportations. The candidate deftly turned these demands aside, asserting "that's not how democracy works."

Illegal alien amnesty failed in 2007 when it was called the McCain-Kennedy Bill, and it will fail today for the same reason—a majority of Republicans and Democrats do not support rewarding lawbreakers. Even candidate Obama acknowledged that it is "also true that the presence of so many illegal immigrants makes a mockery of all those who are trying to immigrate legally."

If amnesty ("comprehensive reform") will not pass Congress and Obama will not issue an Executive Order, how will he get the "undocumented Democrat" vote?

The 2010 reelection of the wildly unpopular Sen. Harry Reid in Nevada provides the answer. There, challenger Sharon Angle won all but Clark County (Las Vegas), where Reid's pro-illegal DREAM (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) Act rhetoric coupled with union members bused to the polls gave Harry the win.

Lesson: Mobilize the immigrant vote by promising amnesty. Don't antagonize citizen voters by actually delivering amnesty. Count on the unions to fund the campaign and bus in the union member voters.

Last week, a former U.S. intelligence agent told ABC News in San Diego that Hezbollah has training camps in Mexico. The stats on illegal immigration (however manipulated) still show thousands of OTM (Other Than Mexican) apprehensions every year, including young Muslim men from terrorist enclaves.

Securing the border is about more than protecting American jobs, more even than protecting the rule of law. It's about national security. It's about the survival of the United States as a sovereign country.

To candidate Obama, the border is just about getting reelected.