White House keeps flaking on immigration reform

During last year’s U.S. presidential election both Barack Obama and John McCain went out of their way to ignore the topic of immigration. (Except for a few ads, naturally). Once in the Oval Office, Obama has done very little on immigration despite lip service over claims that he backs “comprehensive immigration reform”.

Despite calls for something to be done, the possibility of immigration reform being debated (much less voted on) in Congress this year appears to be less and less.
Faced with what could be a backlash over inaction, the White House has started covering their backs:

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said today that there is not enough support in Congress now to pass a comprehensive immigration bill providing a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, though he would not rule out adoption of such a measure by the 2010 elections.

Speaking at a breakfast meeting with Washington-based reporters, Emanuel said one of the reasons the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and proponents of an immigration overhaul asked for a meeting at the White House later today "is because the votes aren't there."

"If the votes were there, you wouldn't need to have the meeting," Emanuel said. "You'd go to a roll call [vote]."

Actually, Rahm, could it be that the reason that there’s going to be yet another meeting with the CHC is because the White House continues to move the goalposts on immigration reform? Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle have admitted that they would be willing to debate the issue as early as this autumn. Will the White House continue to keep delaying reform and pass the blame onto legislators?

In short, how much longer must we wait?

Image-The Independent
Online Sources- Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, The Latin Americanist