The GOP may soon find itself regretting the choices that are being made on the road to 2008. The internal conversation among Latinos is to seperate themselves from the immigration debate and turn this into a full out Latino Civil Rights Movement. It is apparent that what started out as a Homeland security issue has little to do with potential terrorism and everything to do with Latinos Civil Rights. The GOP’s single focus on the southern border as a security breach, is flawed in its lack of balance for equal safety at the ports or other borders. Dems should not be jumping for joy either since Latinos are becoming aware of their future power and will not readily march behind one party with blind loyalty. Hispanics will need to focus on how their vote will directly impact their communities and find leaders that will represent those interest regardless of political affiliation.
Rudolph Giuliani, the front-running Republican candidate for president, has at least two good reasons for proposing a ban against driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants.
One is Sen. Hillary Clinton, the leading Democratic contender for president. In a recent debate, she stumbled over a question about driver’s licenses for “undocumented workers” and eventually endorsed the idea, providing a clear line of attack for Giuliani.
The other is the political landscape of the 2008 presidential contest, where immigration could drive votes in key states the way gay marriage did in 2004.
Among voters who call immigration a “very important” issue in the next election, polling indicates that Giuliani holds an advantage over Clinton in a theoretical match-up. And for most of the Republican field, being against any form of illegal immigration has been a winner.
The senator from New York easily trumps the former mayor of New York on all of the most important issues that voters cite — the economy, health care and the war in Iraq, but not immigration. Among Republicans, Giuliani has been criticized for not being tough on illegal immigrants when he was mayor.
So volatile is the question of what to do with the more than 12 million undocumented immigrants already living in the U.S. that Democrats like Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois call immigration “the new third rail of politics.” On state and local levels, there is ample evidence of a backlash against illegal immigration, and Republicans are hoping to leverage that discontent into votes next November.
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