News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Thurs. Nov. 28, 2013: As usual, Wednesday, November 27th was the big day before Thanksgiving at The White House when the President gets to pardon a very well fed and cared for super-turkey, sparing it from ending up on Obama’s overflowing Thanksgiving table tomorrow.
Lucky turkey! But there are so many turkeys in Washington.
So I ask you where can you find over 500 turkeys in Washington, DC, all year round but rarely on Thanksgiving?
If you answered in Congress and The White House …
You don’t win anything because everyone already knows that.
But what should upset you is that these turkeys are paid very well, create a big mess that we have to clean up and indeed and one of them even has a huge jet to fly around the world, often with other DC turkeys.
Which brings me to a better Thanksgiving message for President Obama and all the other DC turkeys it is …
Immigration reform!
A perfect theme for this quintessentially American holiday.
Why? It should be obvious!
Because the myth of Thanksgiving is based on what took place at Plymouth Rock, in Massachusetts back in 1621. The story of a group of undocumented Europeans coming here and making a life for themselves assisted by the Native Americans who were not immigrants at all.
Think about it.
The fourth Thursday of November each year we celebrate the fact that a group of outcasts who took a dangerous journey in their case across the Atlantic Ocean with few possessions but a bundle of hope to work hard and make a good life for themselves in this new World.
Lucky for them they did not land here almost 400 years later. They would be spending Thanksgiving in some God forsaken federal detention facility waiting to be deported back from where they came. And likely no turkey either!
To add insult to injury, it would be during the reign of President Barack Obama who has deported more undocumented immigrants than all previous U.S. Presidents combined by most estimates.
Yes, yes, yes, Obama is also proposing an immigration reform bill in Congress that will allow many undocumented immigrants in the U.S. to stay here and some day far in the future possibly even become U.S. citizens.
The trouble is it is the usual Obama scenario. He’ll only push so hard for anything he favors, fearful of the opposition. It is happening right now. Obama has largely moved on to other issues while the Republicans in Congress stall and if they can, will kill immigration reform.
Right now at the Holiday Season beginning with Thanksgiving is when Obama should be bringing the issue of immigration reform up every day. During this Season of Joy & Goodwill is the PERFECT time to convince all Americans to give the gift of warmth and welcome to our immigrant brothers and sisters, and exposing the mean spirited hypocrite Republicans led by the likes of the pathetic whacko U.S. Senator Ted Cruz.
Here is what all of them should do right now stop everything and read …
A very important new book “Shaping Our Nation” by Michael Barrone.
After reading this book it is impossible to be anything but positively overwhelmed by the immigrant experience in America. While Barrone reminds of what we already know that America is a land of immigrants he paints the picture in a more compelling way than you have ever read.
Barrone makes it crystal clear that while so called illegal immigration in one era of American history is celebrated as the great American success stories., an era later, the horrendous hypocrisy of so many now condemn immigration reform.
First of all, up until late in the 1800s illegal immigration has no meaning. Those wanting a better life in the promised land of America simply found a way to get passage on ships bound for America from all over the world. Once they got here there were no border guards turning them back. These earlier immigrants simply gathered their meager possessions and headed where ever they wanted or could afford to travel to and began their new life.
Even when Ellis Island opened as the gateway to immigration in America in 1892 everyone who arrived was let in except those who were judged as having certain diseases or criminal records or the like.
So rather than putting on this stupid contrived event at The White House each year this comical charade of Obama “pardoning” a turkey.
He could have done something very useful instead. He loves to fly on Air Force One so much he could have and should have made a short trip to Plymouth, Massachusetts to deliver a stirring speech titled: ‘WE ARE ALL IMMIGRANTS” and retelling the story of the undocumented Pilgrims and the Native Americans who assisted them…
Then gone on to tell the nation if the Pilgrims had arrived today they would be spending Thanksgiving in a deportation facility and that he has been responsible for deporting more immigrants than any President in history.
Then again it is obvious why President Obama did not go to Plymouth, Massachusetts today to celebrate and honor the Pilgrim immigrant experience. It would have led to some very embarrassing questions for him.
Better to stay in Washington aka The Turkey Capital of the United States and “pardon” turkeys instead and tell stupid jokes.
And talk gibberish. Or rather gobble, gobble, gobble.
About The Writer: Arthur Piccolo is a professional writer and commentator and often writes about Latin America for New Americas.
