THANKING OBAMA (while pledging to oppose him every step of the way on amnesty)

By Roy Beck, Tuesday, September 22, 2009, 1:05 PM EDT

We here at NumbersUSA have been a little surprised at a lot of negative response from our members after we declared a little victory last week on barring illegal aliens from a federal health plan. The fact that we offered a fax thanking Pres. Obama for bowing to popular wishes on the issue also seemed to cause a lot of people to think we are dangerously naive. Can we talk a bit about this?

WE TRUST NOBODY WITHOUT VERIFICATION

A lot of people couldn't believe that we would suggest that they thank the President for pledging to verify legal status for participation in any federal health plan.

They asked us how we could thank somebody who was just tricking us into complacency so he could push a full-scale amnesty next year. How could we possibly trust Pres. Obama, they asked.

Let's get this clear: We do not trust Pres. Obama on immigration matters -- not without verification.

We don't trust congressional Republican leaders -- not without verification.

We don't trust Department of Homeland Security officials -- not without verification.

Heck, we don't even trust our closest allies in Congress -- not without verification. You see, every one of them has let us down at least once on immigration issues.

You can count on NumbersUSA to always be watching for somebody to break a promise or just goof up. We never stop watching.

YOUR MOTHER WAS RIGHT -- A POLITE 'THANK YOU' CAN GO A LONG WAY WITH EVERYBODY

We absolutely reject the political notion that somebody who is our opponent at least some of the time has to be treated as our opponent all of the time.

In this town, it is unbelievable how far thanks and positive feedback will get you. NumbersUSA is known around Capitol Hill as one of the few organizations that will actually generate praise for actions we like -- even for people who usually hear complaints from us.

We believe in praising every good immigration action, even if we suspect it may just be a ruse for trying to do something bad later. Despite all of Pres. Obama's pledges for amnesty, we need for him and his staff to see that actions like keeping illegal aliens out of the health care plan are wildly popular and are the way to gain popularity. That is why we immediately offered thank you faxes for our members to send.

Now, we know that some people hate the President more than they want to stop illegal immigration and reduce overall immigration. But that isn't us. We want to win the immigration battles. And you don't win political battles in Washington DC by only screaming and criticizing.

That is our opinion. Of course, you don't have to agree with us to continue to make use of all the action tools we provide when they meet your approval.

OBAMA PUSHING AMNESTY ACTION BACK STILL MORE

Remember the Obama pledge to pass an amnesty early in his first year in office?

That quickly was pushed back to later in the first year.

For some time now, the promise has been to get a White House-approved bill introduced in the fall of 2009, with a vote early in 2010.

Last week after all of the hullabaloo about illegal aliens and health care, Pres. Obama seemed to push things back still more.

'Now, whether that bill gets introduced on November 15th or December 15th or January 15th, that's not really the issue,' Obama said in an interview with Univision, aired Sunday. 'I mean, it would be easy for us to get a bill introduced. The challenge is getting the bill passed. And there I've been realistic. What I said is that this is going to be a tough fight and that we're going to have to make sure that we are working as hard as we can to do it. I am not backing off one minute from getting this done, but let's face it, I've had a few things to do.'

-- Politico.com, Sep. 20, 2009

This is the kind of thing he is telling Hispanic audiences now. It kind of looks like he is suggesting that a White House-approved bill won't be introduced until the start of the new year.

Why does the President think passing an amnesty will be so hard? Because of all the hard work that all of you NumbersUSA members put into this issue week in and week out. And it is not just your direct actions but all the friends, colleagues and family you influence.

Obama's amnesty is on the run. We have to keep it running as far away into the future as possible.

Interestingly, I have been telling news reporters that I would prefer that the President's amnesty be introduced as soon as possible. Why? Because I think once the details are put down in writing that the pro-amnesty coalition will get into all kinds of fights over issues that divide them. It also would give us more time to build public opposition to details in the bill.

But there also is some degree of security in not even having a bill out there.

STOPPING AMNESTY IN A HUNDRED PIECES

The Democratic congressional leadership is getting scared to death of trying to force through a blanket amnesty. So, they are trying to provide the amnesty in a hundred pieces.

First, the idea was to include the illegal aliens under the federal health plan. We/you rose up in rage and apparently have blocked it.

Our biggest challenge this fall is to fight every little legislative favor or loophole for illegal aliens.

Earlier today, we went to you about a threat from a bill by Rep. Grijalva that could greatly reduce border security enforcement in Arizona. Without written guarantee that enforcement will not be negatively affected, we must oppose bills that have the chance of weakening enforcement and creating loopholes.

We will be vigilant. I know you will be, too.

I ask that you trust us to stay on top of these things -- but you will want to verify that we are.

TRUST IS EARNED THROUGH VERIFICATION.

ROY BECK is Founder & CEO of NumbersUSA

http://www.numbersusa.com/content/nusab ... tid=254574