With all due respect to Warren Zevon...In less than a week, President Obama will be sworn in for his second term. The result of an election where, according to all polls, the Hispanic vote was key. Nearly 70% of Hispanics voted for the President. Not surprising, then, in this week of run-up issues to the inauguration, he is touting an "immigration policy" to address the mess of undocumented people, about to be guaranteed health benefits but not required to get identification to prove they deserve them, or the right to vote.
Like the fiscal cliff, the debt ceiling, and other issues, it is another potential "win-win" for the President. If anything is accomplished on immigration, he can claim the lead on the issue. If it stalls, as it did for George Bush, and in Obama's first term, he can blame the Republicans. His eye is on the mid-term elections in two years, and the hope he can once again re-claim a majority to pass some truly progressive measures to end his Administration.
The other topic of conversation getting a lot of air is gun control. The massacre in Newtown, CT created a mandate for President Obama and Vice-President Biden. They are working non-stop to find ways to limit access to certain weapons, ammunition delivery systems, and track owners and weapons across the nation. Their goal is increased safety. Keep an eye on the guns, track their location, don't permit dangerous weapons in the hands of dangerous people, and we are safer. That's part of their new core beliefs.
I assume it's new. Remember a fiasco called "Fast and Furious"? Our government, through the ATF (Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms) allowed weapons to be sold into Mexico, with the goal of tracking them to drug family members in a sting to get information to prosecute them, and impact the cartels. It became a scandal when an American border patrol officer was killed by one of these weapons that once belonged to the ATF. Before that, the Mexican Attorney General estimated an unconfirmed 150 Mexican citizens were killed by cartel members with F & F weapons.
Government oversight over a few weapons in the care of the ATF demonstrates the lack of success this type of program will produce on a national basis. It will not impact the ability of someone who truly wants to hurt others; but new laws will impact law-abiding citizens.
It should also be remembered by those Hispanic voters in the future. This Administration believes in gun control for citizens, and it may not manage the border but it knows where that line is and is content to let the carnage begin once you cross to the South.
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