President
Obama has been criticized by some supporters for a proclivity to procrastinate
and over think possible actions to the point where when he finally acts it is
often considered either too little or too late.
He also has the unfortunate, for a President, habit of thinking out loud
when he is considering action so he gets into the position of having to explain
away statements made before an action is taken if those statements contradict
his ultimate decisions. For example,
when he professorially stated that the President did not have the authority to
go further than his DACA immigration plan.
And, now when has to explain that away because he recognized that in
fact he did have the authority to do more; -- in fact he may have the authority
to do more than he has now done.
President
Obama is the only office holder in our country elected by all the American
people casting a vote for the same position.
As such he is the one charged with preserving our republic, and taking
all necessary action to do so. If Thomas
Jefferson hadn’t purchased territory from France without waiting for a
constitutional amendment, as his congressional critics wanted, our nation might
today not extend west of the Mississippi River.
If Andrew Jackson had not met South Carolina’s attempts to nullify
federal laws with firm adherence to use of force there might have been a Civil
War in the 1830's - one that would have been won by the slave states and led to
two nation's one slave and one free. If
Abraham Lincoln had not exercised his power to combat secession (a power his
predecessor as President denied) we might not be one nation today. If Theodore Roosevelt had not exercised his
power to act as he did in Panama and Columbia (without a Senate ratified
Treaty) there would have been no Panama Canal and a century of an America hemmed
in by two oceans. If FDR had not
exercised the power to close the banks for a few days upon his inauguration the
entire bottom might have fallen through right then and there; instead America
was able to begin the long climb back to economic health without the extremism
of fascism or communism. And, if Harry
Truman hadn’t used his executive pen to order the integration of the Armed
Forces the transformation of this country into a color blind society might not
have begun.
Now,
President Obama exercising the same authority that others before him have
(notably George H W Bush and Ronald Reagan) has dealt with the problem of
millions of illegal immigrants now resident in America. He has both deported those who have no legal
right to be here while now opening a way for those who have been here for years
and contributed to this country to attain a legal status and when the Congress
finally faces up to its responsibility a path to citizenship. I am one of those who would like to have seen
him go further by including the parents of the DACA youngsters; in fact I would
like to see him use his pardoning authority to pardon all those physically
present in this country today from any form of prosecution for violation of
immigration laws - a true total Amnesty.
Immigration
has been a political issue in this country since the 1790's when the
Federalists imposed a 14 year waiting period for obtaining citizenship because
the then French and European immigrants were supporting the Jeffersonian
Democrats. Like all matters involving
our government it will continue to be a partisan issue.
President
Barack Obama acted ! He has done what he
and most Americans believe is the right thing to bring this huge undocumented
population into the American body politic.
Let
those who oppose his executive order do so on the merits of their arguments. Let them offer their alternative
proposals. It is unfortunate that most
of those who oppose this order do so because this President is black, or because
this President is a liberal Democrat, because most of the immigrants affected
are Latino.
My
mother was born in Germany and came to this country at the age of six; my
father’s ancestors arrived here in 1607. So depending how you view it I am
either thirteenth generation American or first generation American. My father's
ancestors built a great nation that opened its’ arms to my mother and her
family in the 1920's. No one stopped
those fearless immigrants of the seventeenth century and no one closed the door
to my mother's family.
We
have struggled every time a different people have found America a refuge and it
has strengthened us and made us a great nation. President Obama has used his
authority honed by Jefferson and Roosevelt to open that door again to those who
found a way to get here. He is a President
who expended his political capital to get health care for those who didn’t have
it and personal security for immigrants who lived in the shadows of our society
-- neither one a major voting bloc. When
Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, when FDR authorized rural
electrification and when LBJ signed the Voting Rights Act it wasn’t as a reward
for those who voted for them nor with expectation that the beneficiaries might
vote for them - it was because it was the Right Thing to Do.
President
Barack Obama has joined those of our great Presidents who have Stood for
American Values and Done the Right Thing.
21
November 2014
No comments:
Post a Comment