Aug 01, 2010

Obama: Officials shouldn't 'demagogue' immigration issue

10:05 AM

President Obama said today that public officials who "demagogue" the immigration issue are only making it harder to address "a national problem."

Obama also defended his opposition to the Arizona immigration law during an interview on CBS Sunday Morning, and said his administration is trying to work with the state to better protect its border with Mexico.

"I understand the frustration of people in Arizona," Obama said. "But what we can't do is demagogue the issue, and what we can't do is allow a patchwork of 50 different states, or cities or localities, where anybody who wants to make a name for themselves suddenly says, 'I'm going to be anti-immigrant, and I'm going try to see if I can solve the problem ourself.' This is a national problem."

On another topic, Obama again pledged to call the Republicans' "bluff" on reducing the national debt, which could well involve taxes and major budget cuts.

"We've got a lot of debt," Obama said. "We've got a lot of deficit. Now the Republicans have said that this is their No. 1 concern. I'm going to call them on their bluff. I want to see their ideas for how we're going to deal with these issues. I'm going to have a bunch of ideas."

Here's how CBS described other parts of the interview, which will continue on The Early Show Monday morning:

The president said he is "stunned" that the GOP hasn't embraced ideas he said Republicans have endorsed in the past.

"We've put together a small business package that is as bipartisan a set of ideas as you can imagine, and these are all what historically have been not just Democratic ideas but Republican ideas, and all we've been hearing is "no" from the other side in the Senate," Mr. Obama said. "I am stunned that you can't get any Republican support for ideas that have been traditionally championed by not just Democrats but Republicans, and it's a sign of how politics is getting in the way of good decisions that will put our country in a much stronger position."
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