"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free." - President Ronald Reagan
On Tuesday night, Pres BO made another call for immigration reform. He will repeat the call at the next "5 de Mayo" speech!
As always, Pres BO will not follow up his remarks with a substantial proposal to Congress. He never does! He is just playing politics and trying to create some enthusiasm in the very unenthusiastic Hispanic community.
Like so much of the Obama presidency, it's all about rhetoric rather than substance or execution. The Dallas Morning News nailed Pres BO's style in Wednesday's editorial:
"The nation has heard variations of these proposals before, but Obama has failed to follow through forcefully."
Where does immigration reform fit in all of this? Why do I say that immigration reform is dead?
Let's look at the electoral landscape. You start with a very weak president. You add that neither party has the willingness to tackle the issue. The result is a federal incapable of enforcing immigration laws or creating some new rules so that people can work legally in the US.
Frankly, someone needs to tell "hispanos" that immigration reform is dead. It won't happen. It is not going to happen.
Some of us would like to see "waivers" so that states can negotiate directly with people living and working here. As we saw in Utah, state legislatures are in a better position to be realistic about issuing work permits to people who are here.
Let me say it again: There won't be any immigration reform. I don't know why so many people continue to believe that there is a reform around the corner.
It won't happen at the federal level. It's time to look at Plan B, or letting the states negotiate directly with the people who are here. Otherwise, many "indocumentados' will find that going home is the only option.
Tags:Immigration reform and President Obama To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!
This is rather remarkable and another example that the public is simply tired of Pres BO's speeches. We admit that he is a good speaker but getting more and more boring by the minute. Reagan was a great speaker too but he usually had something presidential to say!
"37.8 million viewers watched across 14 TV networks.
That’s the fewest of the four January speeches Pres. Obama has delivered since he took office: 42.8 million watched last year, 48 million in 2010, and 52.3 million watched the president’s address to Congress in 2009."
"Kantar used second-by-second audience data gleaned from set-top boxes connected to TV sets from 9pm – 10:30pm. It found:
In the first five minutes, 27% of the audience tuned away.
The networks that benefited the most from the initial tune-away were TBS, USA, and ESPN
CBS and FOX showed sharp losses in viewers at the top of the program, while ABC and NBC showed noticeable gains.
Tune-away was gradual as the speech progressed. No individual topics drove significant audience loss.
After the speech, Fox News Channel quickly gained viewers, becoming the second-most watched network after NBC. This gain presumably was in anticipation of the Republican response (seen in the second graph after the jump). "
This is rather remarkable but it confirms two things:
1) Pres BO is overexposed. He needs to stop talking.
2) There is a limit to "hope and change". At some point, people actually want to hear something different.
We grew up looking forward to presidential speeches because they were important and consequential. They are not today and that's why so many people are tuning him out.
P.S. It reminds me that song "You talk too much" by Joe Jones. He does "talk too much":
"You talk too much You worry me to death
You talk too much You even worry my pet
You just talk Talk too much
You talk about people That you don't know
You talk about people Wherever you go
You just talk Talk too much
You talk about people That you've never seen
You talk about people You can make me scream
You just talk you talk too much
You talk too much You worry me to death
You talk too much You even worry my pet
You just talk Talk too much
You talk about people That you don't know
You talk about people Wherever you go
You just talk Talk too much
You talk about people That you've never seen
You talk about people You can make me scream"
Tags:Pres Obama and the 2012 State of the Union SpeechTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!
