They only get recycled, especially if those ideas were conceived on Capitol Hill by people who have no interest in serving their ostensible constituents. We were all wondering when our president would return to the Democrat Party’s favorite demagogic talking point. Well, we finally have our answer.
Despite the seeming patina of bipartisanship reflected by this meeting’s invitees-open borders devotees from the Republican as well as the Democratic parties were invited to this elaborately orchestrated charade-there was no disguising what the true agenda of this “gathering” was. Nor was there any doubt as to why its participants decided to take part in an exercise that most impartial observers view as a futile endeavor in the newly constituted, strongly pro-enforcement Republican Congress.
Our own mayor, Michael Bloomberg, desperately wants to deflect attention from his flailing, bordering on disastrous-no to mention completely unwarranted-third term in office, while former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has his sights set on something more ambitious. Namely, the European Union presidency. Their counterparts in Mr. Obama’s party, on the other hand, want to cement their party’s status as the one political vehicle in this country that panders exclusively to Hispanic voters, even if that means embracing a policy that rewards lawlessness, ensures future waves of illegal immigration, and compromises our national security, all while alienating hard-working American citizens and legal immigrants from their own society.
Make no mistake, this meeting was not about policy but politics, and politics practiced in the most naked, exploitative manner possible. Barack Obama is not delusional, and the notion that he believes a meeting with the likes of Al Sharpton and Michael Bloomberg will convince Republicans in the House of Representatives to abandon one of the stances most responsible for their newfound majority is patently absurd. Therefore, the only logical conclusion is that this stagecraft is intended to bolster President Obama’s flagging support among likely voters within the Latino community.
The good news, at least from our perspective, is that this bit of political chicanery does not appear to be working with its intended audience. The (very) early reviews are in, and it does not look pretty for the President. The Phoenix New Times, a radical-left open borders rag, mercilessly panned this gathering of open borders advocates, focusing its ire specifically on what it views as Obama’s overly harsh and contentless rhetoric regarding his proposed comprehensive reform. This, in tandem with the ultimately empty-yet still provocative-posturing of Congressman Luis Gutierrez add up to a huge political problem for the President with just one year until the 2012 presidential election.
Whether he can find a way to square the circle, i.e. retain his heretofore solid support among Hispanic voters without accomplishing anything substantive to palliate his most rabid, pro-amnesty base, is something that remains to be seen.
Hope & Change. I already decided that he was a new face, but he didn’t say anything new. It’s not inconcievable that he’s using some old tricks. Gotta do something to get re-elected.