Obama hopes for sane solutions

Globe Columnist / December 4, 2007


BARACK OBAMA talked softly that he would beat off the big stick the Republicans are sure to wield on immigration. "Yes we have to have comprehensive immigration reform, we have to be serious about border security, we have to crack down on employers who are taking advantage of illegal immigrants, and we have to have a pathway to citizenship for the 12 million who are here," the Illinois senator told the Globe's editorial board yesterday in its series of endorsement interviews before the New Hampshire primary.

"But the politics of immigration I don't think will change until American workers feel as if somebody is listening to them, looking out for them, fighting for them and their economic concerns . . . If people see that we're taking those steps, then it puts them in a more generous mood when it comes to immigrants."

To borrow from the title of one of Obama's books, he has the audacity to hope for sanity if he becomes the Democratic nominee for president.

A month ago, front-runner Hillary Clinton came under fire from Obama and the rest of her rivals as well as from conservative talk shows for appearing to vacillate in a debate on a proposal in her New York state to give driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants. She went from saying the now-dumped proposal by Governor Eliot Spitzer "makes a lot of sense" to saying "Do I think this is the best thing for any governor to do? No."

Obama was one of the candidates who immediately challenged Clinton's position.

"I was confused on Senator Clinton's answer," Obama said. "I can't tell whether she was for it or against it. And I do think that is important. One of the things that we have to do in this country is to be honest about the challenges we face. Immigration is a difficult issue. But part of leadership is not just looking backwards and seeing what's popular." ...

Rest of article can be found here (Boston Globe).