Flap’s Links and Comments for May 12th on 06:53

These are my links for May 12th from 06:53 to 07:09:

• What Mr. Obama can do to further immigration reform – FOR THE THIRD TIME in as many weeks, President Obama and his top domestic policy advisers hosted a group of prominent Hispanics and immigration experts the other day at the White House. That was followed by a policy speech on immigration reform Tuesday in El Paso. The president’s goal has been twofold: First, and explicitly, it was to reaffirm his support for overhauling the nation’s dysfunctional immigration system, which has produced 11?million undocumented immigrants. Second, and implicitly, it was to galvanize relations with a large and increasingly restless voting bloc whose support was critical to his victory in 2008 and will be again for his prospects in 2012.The restlessness of Hispanic voters is understandable, if not wholly attributable to Mr. Obama. As a candidate, he promised to press, in his first year in office, for comprehensive immigration reform. But the first year came and went with no movement on immigration. And that was before Mr. Obama lost his Democratic majority, along with much of his influence, in the House of Representatives.======

  Read it all.

  Obama is pander first, pander second and pander third….forget about the policy changes.

• Obama’s lousy immigration record – As for enforcement, Obama has exaggerated his own success on that front. The White House brags that it has doubled the number of border agents since 2004. But who did that? An indignant Capitol Hill Republican e-mails me: “What they don’t tell you is that the doubling all happened before President Obama took office. Remember, it was the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (IRTPA) that included a provision increasing the number of Border Patrol agents by 2,000 annually from FY2006 to FY2010. In other words, they’re bragging on an accomplishment that happened during the *gasp* Bush administration.” This chart nicely illustrates the point (understand that the 2009 increase was determined before Obama entered office).That would be the administration that put forth and fought for its own comprehensive immigration plan. Pretty gutsy. Entirely un-Obama.======

  Watch for Newt Gingrich to attack Obama on immigration very soon.

• Am I Running? Ask My Wife – The Mitch Daniels Story – More than 1,000 Republicans will pack an Indianapolis ballroom Thursday night to catch the state’s most anticipated political speech in years.The speaker? Not Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, but his wife, Cheri, a woman who famously hates politics and has long shied from the political spotlight.Cheri Daniels’s keynote appearance at the state GOP’s spring dinner is generating buzz—and more than a few TV satellite trucks—for a simple reason: Party leaders see her as the main hurdle to Mr. Daniels’s entry in the 2012 presidential race, a move many top Republicans hope the governor will make.

  “Everyone knows he won’t run unless she gives the go-ahead,” said James Bopp Jr., a prominent Indiana Republican. “That’s what makes this all so intriguing.”

  The Cheri Daniels event is far outselling the group’s ballyhooed speaker last fall, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. “This is the biggest crowd we’ve had in at least a generation,” said Pete Seat, the state party’s spokesman.

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  Read it all.

  Will there be a hint of an announcement to come?

  Stay tuned…..

• Rep. Dan Lungren blasts Obama’s joke about moats and alligators for border security – Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.) on Wednesday night said he is “disappointed” that President Obama chose to mock those who are demanding tighter border security in his Tuesday speech in El Paso.Obama angered many by ridiculing demands for beefed up border protection, at a time when law officers and citizens in southwestern states have been injured or killed by drug violence that has leaked over the border from Mexico.”Let me register my disappointment at the demonization of those who might have a disagreement with the president that was expressed by him in his speech yesterday,” Lungren said on the House floor Wednesday night.

  “Talking about moats and talking about alligators and talking about intransigents on the others side of the aisle is not the way to attract bipartisan support to deal with one of the most difficult and important questions of our nation,” he said.

  “I wouldn’t say I’m outraged. I would say I’m disappointed at the tone of those remarks of the president yesterday. If in fact we’re going to work together on issues as important as that, it would seem to me to be important for us to in some way at least accept the fact that there may be legitimate reason for differences, and try and bridge those differences rather than expand them.”

  “Maybe they’ll need a moat,” Obama said. “Maybe they want alligators in the moat. They’ll never be satisfied.”

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  I would say that most Americans understand that Obama is pandering to Hispanic voters in the most cynical way.

  Actually, Obama is just delivering another political speech and playing a race card.

  I don’t think American voters will view it in any other way.

  Plus, Obama will do nothing for the Hispanics and illegal aliens anyway. This is not how he rolls.