Inside Today's Bulletin
Obama Didn't Sell Amnesty
By Joe Murray, The Bulletin
11/12/2008

A new debate is surfacing over the depth and breadth of Sen. Barack Obama's political mandate, and immigration-reform groups are warning President-elect Obama the inclusion of amnesty in his legislative agenda would constitute a serious overstretch.

A poll conducted by Zogby International at the request of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) found an overwhelming majority of U.S. voters still maintain the belief that amnesty for illegal aliens would "further harm the interests of struggling American workers," and a significant percentage of Mr. Obama's supporters voted for the Democrat despite his position on immigration.

Only 32 percent of Mr. Obama's voters said they considered amnesty when voting, while 67 percent responded they did not consider the issue or voted for Mr. Obama notwithstanding his views on the issue.

"Sen. Obama received a mandate from the voters to fix our ailing economy, which has shed more than a million jobs so far this year, not to enact a massive amnesty," said Dan Stein, president of FAIR.

FAIR is concerned that advocates of amnesty are attempting to hitch their open-border policies to the Obama bandwagon heading to Washington in January and argue the Zogby poll clearly debunks the idea that any form of amnesty is included in Mr. Obama's voter mandate.

"This election was a mandate for change on the economy. How can it be mandate for amnesty when it was not even discussed?" asked FAIR spokesman Bob Dane. Mr. Dane said he understood why both candidates stayed on the economic message - because the economy was the prevailing issue - but noted the political landscape "provided cover for them to duck the issue."

Colin Hanna, president of Let Freedom Ring, argues now that the dust is settling it is becoming evident Mr. Obama's position on immigration is outside the mainstream and the country as a whole has moved to the right on the issue.

Citing polling data collected for LFR after the Nov. 4 election, Mr. Hanna noted that 60 percent of Americans believe immigration is one of the top five important issues facing the nation, while 32 percent would place it in the top 10.

When that data is broken down, 68 percent of Republicans would place immigration in the top 10, while 27 would put it in the top 10, as opposed to a 49 percent/40 percent breakdown among Democrats.

Surprisingly, Independents favored the Republican position with 65 percent placing immigration in the top five and 25 percent putting it in the top 10. The same results were true when broken down among conservatives, liberals and independents - independents were tracking with conservatives on the issue.

"Either way you cut it by party label or political philosophy, those in the middle more closely resemble those on the right," Mr. Hanna said.

With the economy taking center stage this election and illegal immigration clearly impacting how the economy operates - cheap labor depresses the market and the costs of housing illegal immigrants is skyrocketing - FAIR believes both parties missed a golden opportunity to have a frank discussion about immigration this year, but will be pressing the issue as the Obama administration takes shape.

"It was almost like a gentleman's agreement that neither would discuss immigration," Mr. Dane said. The issue was explosive for both candidates, as Messers. McCain and Obama both held views favoring amnesty that would have clashed with values of most Americans.

The Zogby poll found 60 percent of voters said reducing illegal immigration and cracking down on businesses hiring illegal immigrants was important, while 57 percent thought amnesty would hurt U.S. workers. Because of such sentiments FAIR believes the passage of any amnesty package would be hard pressed.

"We really feel it is unlikely Obama will get amnesty passed even though he is going to try. President Bush failed when we had the illusion of prosperity. How is Obama going to do it when we have the reality of economic crisis?" Mr. Dane asked. "He is going to have to make a lot of unpopular decision sot fix the economy and he cannot afford a legislative battle on amnesty."

The poll conducted for Let Freedom Ring found 33 percent supporting amnesty, 29 percent supporting deportation of illegals and 24 percent supporting a new idea floated by LFR.
Under LFR's proposal, those who came to the U.S. illegally would be permitted to stay in the country provided they paid a penalty, back taxes and surrendered their right to vote.

"The point is there may be a way to craft a new position on how to deal with illegal immigrants that is both humanitarian and respectful of the law," Mr. Hanna said.

Joe Murray can be reached at jmurray@thebulletin.us


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