Obama's Immigration Problem

It’s no secret that the Democratic Party is a lot more “liberal” on immigration.  That’s partly because the political elite is pro-open-borders.  And partly because the Democrats are the party of Latinos.  And Latinos with relatives back home want their relatives to be able to immigrate to the US.

But Senator Barack Obama has a problem with Latinos.  And the problem is simple.  Latinos don’t like blacks.  For instance, while there remain a few whites who think that blacks are lazy, according to opinion polls, a majority of Latinos think that blacks are lazy.  You’ve got to be carefully taught, and that takes time.

It’s no secret that the major Democratic constituency remaining unexcited by Obama is Latinos.  It’s got to the point, as reported by Hugh Hewitt, that liberal organs like the Los Angeles Times are publishing editorials like "Hola, Obama," to plead with Latinos to get on board the Obama train.

But the strained relationship requires effort on both sides, from Latinos and from Obama.  That means, according to Hewitt that:

If Obama is the Democratic nominee, he will have to bid up the immigration proposals that cratered last year, even above the positions he has already taken.

But a broad majority of the American people strongly resist an “amnesty” on immigration.  So that could but Obama on the wrong side of a big issue.

Of course, if the mortgage meltdown continues, and a recession fully develops, immigration will be a secondary issue in November.

But who knows?