One issue that was kind of buried yesterday amidst the health care debate and the MSM's obsession with trivial nonsense was a declaration by President Obama that he expects there to be a draft of an immigration reform bill by the beginning of next year.
Granted, this is a slight postponement of this issue, given that Obama originally stated he would make immigration reform a top priority in the first year of his Presidency. Nonetheless, we are only talking about a few short months to wait for serious immigration reform.
Speaking at the end of a two-day summit meeting of North American leaders in Guadalajara, Mexico, Obama said his administration was meeting with lawmakers to try to come up with an immigration plan that would have bipartisan support. "When we come back next year ... we should be in a position to start acting."
The political ramifications of serious immigration reform are staggering. Once again, the debate will give an opportunity to Republicans to alienate the fastest growing sector of our society: the Hispanic Community.
"This is going to be difficult; it's going to require bipartisan cooperation. There are going to be demagogues out there who try to suggest that any form of pathway for legalization for those who are already in the United States is unacceptable."
I can already see what's going to happen: The vast majority of Democrats in Congress will be in favor of the immigration bill. The vast majority of Republicans will be against it. The bill eventually will pass, granting eventual citizenship to millions of immigrants. What this means is that there could potentially be millions of new voters in this country within the next couple of years. I wonder which political party these new voters will be supporting - the party which fought for their right to vote in the first place, or the party which opposed it?
It seems clear that if serious immigration reform passes, it will only serve to accelerate the demise of the Republican Party. Heck, the Republicans might not even win Texas in 2012. Texas!
http://www.sfgate.com/...