Just call me Cassandra: Obama plans to bring illegal aliens out from under the bus
Believe me, the only pleasure I take in relating this news is the mild frisson of being able to say, “I told you so.”
Here’s Obama, addressing the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Wednesday evening:
Even though I do not believe we can extend coverage to those who are here illegally, I also don’t simply believe we can simply ignore the fact that our immigration system is broken…That’s why I strongly support making sure folks who are here legally have access to affordable, quality health insurance under this plan, just like everybody else.
Mr. Obama added, “If anything, this debate underscores the necessity of passing comprehensive immigration reform and resolving the issue of 12 million undocumented people living and working in this country once and for all.”
Got that? First, Obama would extend coverage to legal immigrants, who presently cannot receive public assistance until they become citizens (they are currently free to buy health insurance or medical care just like the rest of us, however, or to get emergency treatment at hospitals). Next, immigration reform to make the illegals legal.
Not only does Obama seem bound and determined to prove Joe Wilson wasn’t a liar when he said Obama lied, he also seems to want to prove me prescient. I’m referring to a note I wrote at the end of this post of September 10th, in which I was discussing the Joe Wilson accusation and health care reform for illegal immigrants. Back then I wrote:
What’s more, my guess is that one of the next items on Obama’s agenda will be some sort of amnesty bill to make these illegals legal and thus render the whole argument moot.
It wasn’t just a joke, either. I was serious.
Of course, in Obama’s quest to have it all ways and to claim plausible deniability for anything he says (which accounts at least in part for his Arafat-like tendency to mouth one thing when talking to the in crowd and another when talking to the general public), he may issue some sort of disclaimer. But if Americans are paying attention (and I believe a significant portion of them are at least beginning to), his deniability doesn’t seem quite as plausible as it used to.
Now it’s true that, in Obama’s speech to the Hispanic Caucus, he never really comes out and says he’ll give illegals citizenship and access to all the considerable goodies his welfare state can offer. He speaks generally of “passing comprehensive immigration reform and resolving the issue of 12 million undocumented people living and working in this country once and for all.” So maybe Obama means he’ll resolve the issue by cracking down and deporting those 12 million, but if you believe that I’ve got this bridge in Brooklyn you might want to…
I can’t find the complete text of Obama’s Caucus speech, but here’s a fuller description of it. Read it for yourself and you’ll get the drift. Democratic Senator Robert Menendez from New Jersey certainly thinks he does; even before Obama spoke, Menendez told the crowd, “I know [Obama’s] going to help us with comprehensive immigration reform.”
And we know what Menendez’s agenda for comprehensive immigration reform is, because he’s posted it quite clearly on his website. Here’s what Menendez “knows” Obama will be helping him with:
I have been working with my colleagues to create and pass legislation that would enhance border security, while also providing a legitimate way for the estimated 12 million undocumented workers to come out of the shadows and earn United States citizenship. These undocumented workers must pass a series of strict and critical benchmarks, such as paying fines, learning English, and waiting at the back of the citizenship line, behind those who have pursued legal means of attaining citizenship.
In addition, Menendez supports the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act (S.2611), which would allow an increase in the number of legal “guest” workers allowed to enter this country through something called a visa “blue card” program. Combine this with Obama’s declaration in his speech to the Caucus Wednesday that legal immigrants should be covered, and you could have a veritable health care bonanza, a huge incentive for people to enter this country under this program and tax (in more ways than one) the system (Cloward-Piven anyone?):
Here’s a description of the program from Menendez’s webpage [emphasis mine]:
The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act was created to deal with the most pressing immigration problems. It reinforces and builds on already existing security measures along the southern border of the United States. Furthermore, it creates means for undocumented workers to seek legal citizenship, and provides for a greater number of guest workers through a new “blue card” visa program.
So, when Obama says “I do not believe we can extend coverage to those who are here illegally,” it depends what the defintion of “illegally” is. If Obama gets behind the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act, it’s highly possible that there would hardly be any illegals left in this country; they’d all be citizens or legal immigrants or legal workers. And so, just as I wrote in my September 10th post, “one of the next items on Obama’s agenda will be some sort of amnesty bill to make these illegals legal and thus render the whole argument moot.”
Yes indeed, Obama is a clever man. Let’s see whether the American public is even more clever.
So, basically Obama lied?
No, no, Number 9, not lied. Remember, he wouldn’t cover illegals. He’d just make the illegals legal. See the difference?
[/sarcasm]
As I see it there are three categories of people in this country – US citizen, legal alien (green card, work visa, visitors, etc), and illegal alien.
But in our politically correct, multi-cultural way we’ve managed to grow a convoluted vocabulary intended to obfuscate this simple reality.
depends what the defintion of “illegally” is.
this is a VERY old game.. and i have said more than once they talk in double codes in which the normal defiitions of words and terms are different for them so that they can talk in front of you and not let you now what they are saying as they are saying one thing to freinds, and another to everyone else.
the soviets said they wanted peace.
well peace to us is the absence of war or its threat.
however THEY define peace as no opposition to socialism.
so when they talk about having peace, we hear they want absence of war… but they hear nothing like it, they are in a war now… so the only way to have peace is to win.
see?
After a while, ascribing to incompetence what is more economically explained by malice becomes wearisome.
Merely another column (this one dealing with the illegal alien issue) of the many columns of attackers that have fanned out to carry out Obama & Co.’s Blitzkrieg, subversion and sapping operations against the Constitution, Democracy, Liberty, individual Freedom, self determination and Capitalism; all aimed at so confusing and overwhelming us that we will not be able to effectively comprehend the nature and scope of the attacks and/or determine which columns are feints and unimportant and which columns constitute the main threats, so that we will be unable to mobilize in time, fight back and stop them. If enough columns are successful in subverting/reducing/capturing their objectives, they will–cumulatively–irreversibly and irretrievably change America.
On the march so far are attacking columns devoted to the stimulus, industry takeovers/nationalizations, general destruction of the capitalist system–contract law, the banking industry, commercial law and custom, salaries and corporate independence, the cap and trade column, the health care reform column, the deficit and debt columns, the monetarization of the public debt and hyperinflation column–my bet for the most powerful, the sleeper column–the take over the Internet and quash your opponents columns, with separate detachments attacking talk radio, Fox news, the Internet, the “undermedia” and the blogosphere and, now, individual citizens who protest the administration’s policies or who dare to ask questions, the voter registration and Census column, and, most recently, the regulate everything column, which has just started to march on Yard Sales but plans to send out detachments to attack electricity generation and use, home energy efficiency, child raising and education, among many other things.
Paralleling these columns devoted to economic and regulatory issues we have the reduce our defenses column, the Civilian National Security Force columns–including “mandatory public service,” ACORN and Americorps, we have the expand the underclass that pays no taxes column–both great recruiting tools for Mass/Popular organizations loyal to Obama, by the way, the destroy our foreign policy column–with it’s insult our Allies and suck up to our Enemies detachments, we have the side with Marxists and dictators column, and we have the bow and scrape to Islam and Muslims column.
Sounds like a win-win solution to me. What’s not to like? More Americans, more compassion, more healthcare.
Even better — why not have ACORN, to make up for its recent incorrectnesses against Salvadorans, organize those pre-citizens for full citizenship and healthcare in one fell swoop. Think of the savings and efficiency!
My heart brims over with the vision of all America pulling together. The love and the pride.
Yes, Arafat-like! That’s right. Only I liked Arafat better. He was almost cuddly, in a loathesome kind of way.
D’oh! The Arafat reference was in the post above this one.
I’m being forced to change my position. In the past I’ve been accommodating in my attitude toward illegal workers, a situation that has been present since the US has had a border with Mexico. In the past the result of the social and economic factors has meant that the US came out ahead(and Mexico too).
Obama is changing the equation and using the issue in a cynical way. He would use universal healthcare and guaranteed citizenship to change the motivation and ultimately the very nature of those who cross the border. It was a good thing while it lasted but with Obama poisoning the well the water won’t be able to produce anything but illness.
But now the Republican Party has a tough yet delicate task ahead of it — which is how to effectively oppose Obama’s strategy without looking like bigoted blowhards. I think the strategy should consist of this: In the rumored upcoming immigration hearings keep the opposition rhetoric cool and clear of bias, saving the heat and energy for legislative specifics if such are ever actually offered.
BTW, I don’t think Obama has a true picture of the reality of the Democrat’s immigration attitude — specifically, I believe that Congress does not want to actually pass new immigration legislation. Remember that they had their butts handed to them the last time they tried.
Obama does not necessarily have a firm handle on the actual dynamics of Congress — his mishandling of the healthcare initiative provides a clue to this. He wasn’t in Congress long enough to be able to gauge and assess the underlying mood of the Democratic leadership.
I think what the Democrats really want to do is to merely hold hearings where they can posture as the nice guys and perhaps get the Republicans on tape saying stupid things. It’s all part of their overall strategy of alienating the Latinos from the Republicans. Here is the basic paradigm:
Hearings can be a plus and never a minus for the Democrats.
Actual legislation, which must contain specifics which are open to debate on their merits, will almost certainly be a minus for the Democrats.
Immigration is like healthcare — most voters will favor a general, benign-sounding generality but when it gets down to specifics — uh-oh!
But it seems that Obama now wants them to offer up tangible legislative proposals. He wants to force the issue. Aside from groups like the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute he may find the Democrats that actually run Congress feel otherwise.
Notice that every day brings another revolting development. You think that things can’t get any worse but you’re wrong. Every day you’re wrong!! In fact, it has gotten to the point where I am getting numb. We’ll get to know if Obama is serious about turning 10,000,000 illegal aliens into citizens when he announces that now 41,000,000 people are without health insurance, rather than the rather mysterious 30,000,000.
Obama is going to appear on 5 TV news shows this Sunday. Does anyone think that he will be asked for a copy of his health plan on any of these shows. Don’t you think that members of the msm should be waking up to the fact that they are being used by the administration to the point that they have lost their credibility and are becoming laughingstocks? DOes anyone in the msm still retain some integrity?
And how long did they start the influx so it could converge now with enough to make a difference? how long ago was carter when the law behind the housing collapse started so that it could build (and later tweaked when it wasnt fast enough).
a whole lot of things were organized and seemed harmless or not huge enough to go nutty over. now what do they mean coming together?
DOes anyone in the msm still retain some integrity?
Mostly not.
Those who aren’t completely blinded by their ideology are making a cold-blooded calculation that that if their ships are going to go down financially, who cares about their credibility? They might as well go kamikaze with their politics.
Those who are even more cynical are hoping for a bailout from the Democrats. So it behooves the MSM to continue to demonstrate how it is to the Democrats.
WaPo’s coverage today of the ACORN scandals is astonishing. No mention today of the votes from yesterday to defund ACORN. Instead ACORN appears in a “Friday Follies” poll.
The MSM is in Pravda territory.
You have to look at the whole Barack. The hurt Barack, whose daddy boogalooed back to Africa, whose mother was named Stanley, who, just when things are settling -whoops – off to Indonesia! Barack the speechless infidel. Things start settling down, then whoosh! Barack the Muslim back to America. Barack now the slick, glib outsider. Edits the Law Review and never writes anything. Serves in the senate and votes present. Barack the dream projection screen. Barack with the Ayers-Alinsky-Wright orientation.
Watch for an executive order legalizing a broad swath of the illegals just in time to register and vote in 2010.
Good comment, grackle! Very thoughtful and some excellent advice.
Watch for an executive order legalizing a broad swath of the illegals just in time to register and vote in 2010.
I see this as a possibility instead of a probability. Obama might try this but the resulting firestorm of controversy would likely shake up the Democratic Party. At the very least I believe most Blue Dog Democrats and some other Democrat moderates in the House might switch parties. These folks barely got elected and they know it.
Also, I believe that if Obama attempts such an obvious and controversial tactic he would be more likely to play this card just before the 2012 Presidential election and then only if he perceives his election as unlikely without the extra votes. It would be a move of desperation.
Right now, his better bet is to try to achieve it through legislation but I also believe he has misjudged the political currents. The Stimulus Bill, Cap and Trade and Healthcare are all controversial, with the last two producing stiff opposition. His foreign policy decisions are controversial. At some point the controversy is going to consume him if he continues pushing the envelop.
Future News:
The Obama administration announced today a new and ambitious program for “welcoming a new wave of industrious, energetic, immigrants to American society and values, rivaling the European immigration of the 19th century. This will strengthen an American society of liberal values and community spirit.”
Central to this plan is to grant citizenship in exchange for a legal promise to vote, and to vote Democratic, in all elections while a citizen. “This embrace of American values is essential for integrating these new citizens into our republic”, said an administration spokesman.
Good comment, grackle! Very thoughtful and some excellent advice.
And thanks to you, Oblio. Internecine disagreements aside, we are all in the same club — the Stop Obama club.
The man is a gifted snakeoil salesman but this time I think he has jumped the shark. I expect backlash on this one.
Now that E-Verify is becoming a nationwide verification application to extract illegal immigrants from businesses. It is now growing in aggressive performance for placing true US workers in the job line and outing illegal labor. This operation should now extend to certainly more purposeful uses? That means not just federal contractors but everybody who draws a pay check? Should a health care reform pass all obstacles in the House and Senate chambers, it could have an invaluable function of checking people who are not only applicants for jobs, but health care reform registry. In the future it should be considered to vet a person’s nationality status, when applying for a mortgage? The United States banking system, financial institution were all but swept away on a deluge of corruption that has very sinister undertones in an organization called ACORN.
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform now is under state and federal investigations at this very moment. Other involved institution impacted both Freddie Mac/Freddie Mae and a scheme incorporating underhand minority lending practices. But you might not have heard any of this, from the liberal media about the massive illegal alien mortgage accusations. The whole debacle was the involvement in a corrupt enabling banking industry and ethnic lobbyists, using unethical methods, along with Bush administration to guarantee loans for low income and people that could not possibly afford mortgages. Didn’t Wall Street, the government regulators learn anything from the Savings and loan crisis in the 1980’s?
GOOGLE–Michelle Malkin, she has her own blog and also Google illegal immigrants–mortgages–home loans. Find out about the shady deals which had a massive impact on the 2009 real estate crash. In Addition read how we as citizens and legal residents can demand permanent E-VERIFY. Tell the politicians in Washington at 202-224-3121 It’s about time they worked for the USworking man/woman, instead of paying-off favors to the wealthy business lobbyists? NUMBERSUSA & JUDICIAL WATCH has more answers about corrupt lawmakers and the issues that effects us all. HELP AMERICA SURVIVE.
grackle, no doubt we disagree on some things, but that’s OK. No hard feelings. Let’s keep engaging. We should all open our minds to each other–to influence and to be influenced.
The stop Obama and to win, we must win mindshare. Our best ideas have leverage for changing minds.
When people tell you we need to spped up the process for making new citizens you need to point out two things.
1) In 2008 the US Naturalized “1,046,539 new U.S. citizens” (Ref 1 Below)
2) In 2007 it was 660,000 (Ref 2 below)
how much faster should a country of 300,00,000 absorb new citizens ? (perhpas 5% or more of the total population illegal themselves)
Ref 1:
http://www.naleo.org/pr/pr04-06-09.html
Ref 2:
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/Va__-Md_-place-in-top-10-for-naturalizations-8134480-53862797.html
“speed” not “spped” and “300,000,000 not 300,00,000”
“perhaps” not “perhpas”
ah..
and within three years all the relative connections will also get in.. so they get a double wack… the ones that are immediate, and then the ones that come in under those laws
now NATO is coming to the table to ‘deal’ with russia..
“Let’s see whether the American public is even more clever.”
The way things are transpiring it seems fairly obvious that the average IQ in the nation is now around 101 …
Watch for an executive order legalizing a broad swath of the illegals just in time to register and vote in 2010.
Nolanimrod: I’m hardly a constitutional scholar. Is this possible?
I know that rather extreme things have been done by executive order — most notably the Japanese internment — but legally and practically could Obama pull this off?
FDR did… for long enough to effect us up to today
Apparently my post was not clear.
“This” refers specifically to “an executive order legalizing a broad swath of the illegals just in time to register and vote in 2010.”
Clever? Clever in deceit. This man is deliberately attempting to trick the American people into something they want no part of. His contempt for us becomes increasingly obvious. It is surpassed only by his own self-regard.