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People and Politics by Patrick Roberts

White House arrest of Rep. Gutierrez a wakeup call for Obama on immigration reform

Posted on Sunday, May 02, 2010 at 09:16 PM

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The hundreds of thousands who took to the streets of America this weekend calling for immigration reform are ensuring that this issue will not go away.

But perhaps it was the arrest of Congressman Luis Gutierrez of Chicago outside the White House that will impact President Obama the most.

Gutierrez is an old ally from the Chicago era and the two men, both political outsiders at key points in their lives, have an awful lot in common.

Gutierrez stayed on in Congress because Obama was elected and he was given a firm promise that immigration reform would be top of the new president's agenda.

Since then Gutierrez has been bitterly disappointed in his old friend.

He has warned Obama that the Hispanic congressional caucus is no longer a solid vote on many key issues unless immigration is addressed.

But Obama has not listened.

Then at the weekend, Gutierrez uppsd the ante, allowing himself to get arrested outside the house where his old friend now resides and shapes all policy.

Gutierrez's symbolic act is also a final signal to Obama that he needs to get real about immigration reform and stop trying to shrink his responsibilites.

There is no question that a new vista has opened, that the new Arizona law has propelled reform back onto the front page and front line.

Obama needs to grasp the moment and shape a compromise between two bitterly opposed sides.

That is what great leaders do.

Great leaders also take the ultimate step, like Martin Luther King in getting arrested, like Gutierrez did to drawn attention to the horrific reality that a lack of federal action is causing on this issue.

Gutierrez was issuing a call to action,a clarion call that Obama should ignore at his peril.

Are you listening Mr. President?

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41 Comments

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IrishAndProud | May 11, 2010, 06:30 PM EDT

And further, rimomemte...I'm starting to wonder if YOU are 'nothing' but an illegal alien, yourself.

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IrishAndProud | May 11, 2010, 06:28 PM EDT

(continued)... The very word 'racist!' is your substitute -- your 'crutch' -- in leau of thought, itself. I've been giving nothing BUT solutions with nearly every single post I've made: enforce our laws and borders, which the American people back by enormous margins. Comprende, amigo?

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IrishAndProud | May 11, 2010, 06:26 PM EDT

Bullsh-t, rimomente. You're an arrogant, pro-illegal LIAR (who, being a so-called 'progressive,' probably DETESTS the Jews...so look who's talking about 'racism'). Talk about 'no solutions'...it's jokers like YOU who cry 'racism' at every single thing in existence that YOU don't agree with, because you cannot come back at any of it with anything even remotely resembling substance or intelligence.

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ritmomente | May 07, 2010, 04:23 PM EDT

DennisQ, IrishandHypocrite is nothing but a racist. Another angry fool with no solution to this crisis....just more criticism showing his contempt for anyone including those that look like him.

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DennisQ | May 06, 2010, 05:51 PM EDT

You're saying that we can't add more buyers and sellers to a given market because there isn't enough money. That's economic nonsense. There's no theoretic limit and no practical limit to the number of traders of goods and services. Your hostility to immigrants isn't based on economics; it's based on racism.

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IrishAndProud | May 05, 2010, 09:58 PM EDT

Dennis, I didn't say their INTENT is always to show contempt for our borders, etc (though I've no doubt that with a good number, it is)...I said that be being here, they DO...whether it's their intent or not. And I don't doubt that they're looking for work and to make a living. And...your point? Are we to just allow them to enter freely and overrun the country and our VERY LIMITED FINANCES? We CANNOT do that, Dennis. No nation on earth can just do stuff of that sort.

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Monsoonman | May 05, 2010, 09:14 AM EDT

"The present system of making everybody illegal"??????? Head hurt!

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DennisQ | May 05, 2010, 05:19 AM EDT

No, they're not here to show contempt for anything. They're here to find work. Maybe the sticking point is that you believe they have the choice to stay at home where they can't make a living. They don't.

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IrishAndProud | May 04, 2010, 11:44 PM EDT

How can catching and deporting aliens who by their very presence show contempt for our borders, language and culture...damage our borders, language and culture?

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DennisQ | May 04, 2010, 11:03 PM EDT

Nobody is talking about ending regulations entirely, but let's have regulations that actually do that. The present system of making everybody illegal isn't going to work . . . and it doesn't. It's like a traffic light that never turns green. Such laws are worse than useless, and they promote disrespect for the very things we're looking to preserve - our language, our culture, our borders - the very things that you acknowledge are being damaged.

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rcrdskpr@aol.com | May 04, 2010, 09:00 PM EDT

i believe dennisq suffers from cranial-rectal inversion

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IrishAndProud | May 04, 2010, 08:50 PM EDT

Yeah, Dennis...let's just throw open our borders and get overrun with everyone from everywhere. Borders, language, culture...who needs 'em, right? (And I thought doing nothing about illegals who violate our borders promoted 'disrespect for law'...)

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DennisQ | May 04, 2010, 07:52 PM EDT

Free enterprise means allowing labor to cross national borders the same way corporations do. Shouldn't sellers of labor be on the same footing as sellers of products? Restrictive immigration policies are a form of tariff, advantaging one group of sellers over another. It's not really efficient, and that's not the worst of it. Arbitrary tariffs promote bootlegging, which in turn promotes disrespect for law. We need to address problems at their source, not at their symptoms.

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IrishAndProud | May 04, 2010, 04:47 PM EDT

Additionally...if anything even the path to LEGAL citizenship is too lenient. This Paki would-be bomber in Times Square had his green card, legal papers and everything else...and yet look what happened. The screening process is severely wanting, to say the least. And if THIS could happen, my gosh...who's coming across the border with the ILLEGALS?

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IrishAndProud | May 04, 2010, 03:25 PM EDT

Dennis, you're cutting and pasting. You've used that opening line ("Political power in America has shifted from an older, fearful generation to a younger, more confident generation") in at least two different posts, now. Illegal aliens don't get us out of a recession, Dennis (nice with the purely emotional 'good-hearted' crap, too); FREE ENTERPRISE does that. And Obama and his ilk are its enemy.

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