Both of the main candidates for the U.S. presidency- John McCain and Barack Obama- spoke yesterday at the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) conference. The Republican senator praised Latinos for their contributions to his home state of Arizona and reflected on the bravery of Latino veterans of war as well as Latino soldiers serving overseas. McCain also touched on the failed immigration reform proposal which he strongly backed and emphasized the need to “secure our borders first” regarding the immigration debate.
Meanwhile, the Democratic legislator touched on some of the same issues as McCain such as education, health care, and foreign policy. Yet Obama accused McCain of abandoning “his courageous stance” on immigration reform as he was campaigning for the GOP nomination. “America has nothing to fear from our newcomers,” added Obama as he vowed to make immigration reform a key priority if elected president.
A piece in today’s San Francisco Chronicle noted the problems with each of the candidate’s remarks on immigration:
McCain finds himself pinched between his sponsorship of a major immigration overhaul that failed last year in the Senate and his need to disown his own immigration bill that was loathed in his party…
When the bill came up for a vote, McCain largely left the fight to others as he devoted his time to running for president. He finally said in a Republican debate this year that he would not vote for his own bill now but would work on border security first…
Obama, who struggled to win Latinos during the primaries and played a minor role in the immigration debates, said he had "reached across the aisle in the Senate to fight for comprehensive immigration reform." In fact, while Obama sponsored some amendments, he was not a key negotiator and mainly stuck to the party line. If anything, his amendments and others he supported undermined the fragile bipartisan coalition backing the bill.
Image- The Telegraph (“Barack Obama addresses the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) convention”)
Sources- Washington Post, CBC.ca, SFGate.com, The Age, The Trail, Chicago Tribune
I was there for the Obama speech; I was impressed with how little applause he received - it seemed like he even paused a few times where he expected some noise, only to get crickets.
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