News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Mar. 8, 2013:
Dear Mr. President,
Regardless of how much we train our mind to expect it, it is still always astounding when politicians flip flop for political gain. And so Jeb Bush’s flip flop this week was still a hard pill to swallow, especially since it came out of left field.
But most importantly, he was someone whose position on immigration reform was well respected for years by many, especially Latinos in Florida, since he stuck to his position despite how many in his own Party felt. And that includes in the midst of the flip flopping by John McCain, Mitt Romney and Marco Rubio.
Now, at the most critical time in the history of immigration reform in America – Jeb, who is married to a Mexican immigrant, making his children, half immigrant at least, chooses to suddenly flip flop twice.
First, as governor and at least up to last year, he was in favor of comprehensive immigration reform that included a pathway to citizenship.
Suddenly, in his book “Immigration Wars,” he insists he’s for a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants but no citizenship. Smack dab it seems like another self-deportation line straight out of Mitt’s policy playbook on immigration!
But wait – a few other flips came that left even Jeb’s own Republicans confused; Latinos in Florida backing away and advocates shaking their heads in disbelief!
In a media interview with MSNBC, JB switched back to his original pre-book stance, insisting he’s for “a path to citizenship where there isn’t an incentive for people to come illegally, I’m for it. I don’t have a problem with that.”
Yet later on CNN, he reverted back to the book line, claiming he is not going to support a pathway to citizenship except for those young undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children, commonly known as “Dreamers.”
So which Bush actually spoke? And did he really write this book or was it written for him as a manual to follow in a possible bid for the presidency in 2016, in order to get those Tea Party votes and donations? Or was this all about making Rubio look bad in the eyes of the Right?
Whatever it is, its cost Jeb Bush his credibility and put him at odds not just with the few Latinos who had his back, but his own GOP members who can’t believe it!
Especially since even the Bible-belt waving evangelical Christians are lining up behind immigration reform, quoting the 40 passages of the Bible that touch on the topic.
Among them are those recounting how God tells Israelites to deal with immigrants — “There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you.”
As Richard Land, the president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, stated: “the landscape has changed on this,” referring to immigration reform.
Next week, it plans to begin airing a radio advertisement in South Carolina in which a local Southern Baptist pastor calls for an immigration rewrite that allows undocumented immigrants to become citizens.
And he is right on the money Mr. President. This is the one issue you are most likely to get bi-partisan support on this year so let’s get it done. It not only augers well for when history is written on your term as the son of an immigrant and first African American President of the United States but it’s the right thing to do!
Respectfully,
The writer is founder of NewsAmericasNow, CaribPR Wire and Hard Beat Communications.
