ObamaOdrama

While America faces both historical domestic and international challenges, Obama is turning to what has served him best over his political career to put America back on the road to prosperity… campaigning.  And if you thought the 2008 presidential race was the longest, most expensive, and most controversial… you ain’t seen nothing yet.

According to the NY Times, Obama will begin addressing the country’s illegal immigration system this year including a legal path to citizenship for 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S.

Mr. Obama plans to speak publicly about the issue in May, administration officials said, and over the summer he will convene working groups, including lawmakers from both parties and a range of immigration groups, to begin discussing possible legislation for as early as this fall.

Some White House officials said that immigration would not take precedence over the health care and energy proposals that Mr. Obama has identified as priorities. But the timetable is consistent with pledges Mr. Obama made to Hispanic groups in last year’s campaign.

He said then that comprehensive immigration legislation, including a plan to make legal status possible for an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants, would be a priority in his first year in office. Latino voters turned out strongly for Mr. Obama in the election.

“He intends to start the debate this year,” Ms. Muñoz said.

The race for 2012 just started.  Actually it started much earlier since technically Obama never stopped campaigning and locking up 12+ million votes has been in the works for quite awhile. 

ACORN, the National Day Laborer Organizer Network, and House Democrats kicked things off in Arizona by requesting the Department of (in)Justice  investigate Sheriff Joe Arpiao’s enforcement of immigration laws.  ACORN was back at it with support from the U.S. Census Bureau to assist in 2010’s redistricting.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) joined the campaign and was whipping up legal and illegal immigrants calling them patriotic and current U.S. immigration laws un-American.  Following the party’s momentum, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced a postponement of immigration raids and a new focus on businesses rather than illegal immigrants.  April Fool’s day wasn’t fooling anyone when Commerce Secretary Gary Locke met with Hispanic special interest groups demanding immigration reform or risk the “future of the United States,”  because the next day the Census Bureau was enlisting Univision, the National Council of La Raza, the League of United Latin American Citizens, and the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials to make sure every illegal would be counted.

Make no mistake about it, the race for 2012 is on and American’s still have much to pay for the inauguration.

Nicholas Ballasy reports:

(CNSNews.com) - The acting director of the U.S. Census Bureau, Thomas Mesenbourg, told CNSNews.com that the bureau intends to work with community organizations to make sure every illegal alien in the United States is counted in the 2010 Census.

 The Census is used to apportion the seats in the U.S. House of Representative. There are 435 House seats that are divided among the states in proportion to their population, which is determined by the decennial census. States with more people get more seats in the U.S. House.

This means that a state harboring more illegal aliens can gain more House seats as long as the Census Bureau finds the illegal aliens and counts them. This also means that the illegal alien population resident in the United States during a census year has the potential to alter the regional and philosophical balance of power in Congress.

Mesenbourg made these comments after a press conference I posted yesterday where Commerce Secretary Gary Locke joined Hispanic special interest groups like Univision, the National Council of La Raza, the League of United Latin American Citizens, and the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.

I think this provides some greater clarity regarding the Department of Homeland Security’s recent change of focus in enforcing immigration laws.

The AP reports that Hispanic groups are calling on Obama to keep his promise and pass immigration reform or risk “the future of the United States.”

WASHINGTON - Saying traditional census outreach will not be enough, Hispanic groups on Wednesday urged the Obama administration to follow through now on its pledge to pass immigration reform or risk an undercount of millions of people.

The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, Univision Inc., the League of United Latin American Citizens and SEIU announced a grassroots campaign that would supplement Census Bureau efforts to reach the traditionally hard to count Hispanic community. An estimated 1 million Hispanics, or about 3 percent of the U.S. population, were missed in 2000.

“Make no mistake about it: The census cannot succeed if Latinos are not fully counted,” said Arturo Vargas, executive director of NALEO, noting that Hispanics make up half of the nation’s percentage growth. “We are the future of the United States.”

He said a halt to immigration raids is not enough and referred to President Barack Obama’s pledge on immigration reform.

“That needs to be decided today, not in the 2010 census,” Vargas said.

Ruben Keoseyan, publisher of La Raza newspaper, expressed concern about a mixed message where Hispanic groups work to build trust in immigrant communities only to have it destroyed if the government conducts a raid days later. “The federal government plays an important role in augmenting what we are doing,” he said.

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, who addressed the groups Wednesday, stressed that all personal information in census forms will be kept confidential. He noted that Obama would soon nominate a new census director.

“We all recognize what is at stake,” Locke said.

The U.S. Census Bureau has enlisted the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, ACORN, to help with next year’s census counting.

ACORN has an interesting history of voter fraud but you may better recall them being investigated in numerous states during the last presidential election cycle for massive voter registration fraud. Some of the noteable fraudulent voter registrations included fictional cartoon characters, inmates, and the Dallas Cowboys starting line-up in Nevada.

Despite Obama trying to distance himself from the past, I guess history is hard to ignore?