Bonnie
07-01-2010, 06:33 PM
I watched President Obama's speech about immigration reform. If you notice, I put a "?" mark in the thread title because quite frankly it left me with a big :huh: and :unsure-1:. If this had been a tennis match, I think I might have a serious case of whiplash from all of his contradictory statements going from "it's unfair to those waiting in line to enter legally" to "we need to create a pathway for those who've done so much..."
He starts out talking about how this country was founded on all the immigrants who came here and proceeds to list names including Albert Einstein, etc... Goes into his poetic speech mode (my description) waxing on about all the immigrants...yada yada yada. I think it's a good 15 or 20 minutes into the speech (maybe longer) before he even utters the word "illegal". He may have just said it once; he mainly referred to illegals as "undocumented" immigrants. I take that distinction to mean: "Hey, they're just like all the immigrants who've come before them, they just don't currently have their documents; but we're working on that." :wink:
Obama talking about how many of these undocumented people come to be: "In fact, because we don't do a very good job of tracking who comes in and out of the country as visitors, large numbers of them avoid immigration laws simply by overstaying their visas. The result is 11,000,000 undocumented immigrants in the U.S."
Sounds like nothing has changed on that front since some of the 9/11 bombers overstayed their visas. I think it's incredible that he admits that and that he's basically saying "so blame us, not them".
He goes on to say the terrible things that happen to these people...how they are taken advantage of in low wages, not able to report crimes against them because of fear, human trafficking, etc.. And there's this: "Billions in tax revenue are lost each year because many undocumented workers are paid under the table." Again, I get the feeling we are being blamed for them not having the proper documentation which leads to the "under the table" and billions being lost in tax revenue. You know where all of this is leading, right, to those "pathways". :wink:
He eventually gets to Arizona: "Arizona and states like it are ultimately trying to enforce laws that are unenforceable." :huh: From what I understand the Arizona law is written from the federal law, so what is he saying exactly? :Whistle: And, "The bottom line is this, the southern border is more secure today than at any time in the past 20 years."
He says we have the right to make and enforce laws regarding our borders and then says it's impossible for us to keep people from crossing our borders because there are just too many miles of borders. He says we need to make businesses accountable for hiring undocumented workers, but on the other hand we need to find a way for our farmers to "legally" hire these workers.
See what I mean about whiplash? :blink:
He finally ends, again with poetics (from a real poet), talking about Emma Lazarus who wrote "The New Colossus". Lines from her poem are inscribed on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty: "Give me your tired, your poor...your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."
My take from his speech: Nothing is going to really happen to secure our borders; instead he wants to create legal pathways for existing "undocumented" people to become citizens, thereby (IMO) cementing a pathway for illegal immigrants to continue flooding into our country.
Imagine Dana Carvey doing his Bush Sr. (with the hands): "In short...no change...no secure borders...not gonna happen! (emphatic hands!) Pathways...beautiful pathways. (sweeping hands) :laugh:
He starts out talking about how this country was founded on all the immigrants who came here and proceeds to list names including Albert Einstein, etc... Goes into his poetic speech mode (my description) waxing on about all the immigrants...yada yada yada. I think it's a good 15 or 20 minutes into the speech (maybe longer) before he even utters the word "illegal". He may have just said it once; he mainly referred to illegals as "undocumented" immigrants. I take that distinction to mean: "Hey, they're just like all the immigrants who've come before them, they just don't currently have their documents; but we're working on that." :wink:
Obama talking about how many of these undocumented people come to be: "In fact, because we don't do a very good job of tracking who comes in and out of the country as visitors, large numbers of them avoid immigration laws simply by overstaying their visas. The result is 11,000,000 undocumented immigrants in the U.S."
Sounds like nothing has changed on that front since some of the 9/11 bombers overstayed their visas. I think it's incredible that he admits that and that he's basically saying "so blame us, not them".
He goes on to say the terrible things that happen to these people...how they are taken advantage of in low wages, not able to report crimes against them because of fear, human trafficking, etc.. And there's this: "Billions in tax revenue are lost each year because many undocumented workers are paid under the table." Again, I get the feeling we are being blamed for them not having the proper documentation which leads to the "under the table" and billions being lost in tax revenue. You know where all of this is leading, right, to those "pathways". :wink:
He eventually gets to Arizona: "Arizona and states like it are ultimately trying to enforce laws that are unenforceable." :huh: From what I understand the Arizona law is written from the federal law, so what is he saying exactly? :Whistle: And, "The bottom line is this, the southern border is more secure today than at any time in the past 20 years."
He says we have the right to make and enforce laws regarding our borders and then says it's impossible for us to keep people from crossing our borders because there are just too many miles of borders. He says we need to make businesses accountable for hiring undocumented workers, but on the other hand we need to find a way for our farmers to "legally" hire these workers.
See what I mean about whiplash? :blink:
He finally ends, again with poetics (from a real poet), talking about Emma Lazarus who wrote "The New Colossus". Lines from her poem are inscribed on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty: "Give me your tired, your poor...your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."
My take from his speech: Nothing is going to really happen to secure our borders; instead he wants to create legal pathways for existing "undocumented" people to become citizens, thereby (IMO) cementing a pathway for illegal immigrants to continue flooding into our country.
Imagine Dana Carvey doing his Bush Sr. (with the hands): "In short...no change...no secure borders...not gonna happen! (emphatic hands!) Pathways...beautiful pathways. (sweeping hands) :laugh: