Thursday, January 28, 2010

President Obama's State of the Union Speech Lacked Appeal For Hispanics

Jobs bill, economy, and unity the main focus of speech instead of immigration reform and undocumented immigrants

By H. Nelson Goodson
January 28, 2010

Washington D.C. -Last night, President Barack H. Obama's first State of the Union speech focused on jobs and tax credits for job creation. Hispanics and undocumented immigrants throughout the nation had hoped to hear about his post election promise to help pass an immigration reform bill. But, Obama focused on jobs and the economy instead. That change hasn't come fast enough and people without jobs are hurting. "Jobs must be our number one focus in 2010," it's a New Year, let's come together and get the job done for the American people and let's work on getting a job bill on my desk without delay. "The House has passed a jobs bill, as the first order of business this year, I urge the Senate to do the same," said Obama calling for unity between members of the U.S. Congress and Senate.
President Obama said, since I've taken office a year ago "amid two wars, an economy rocked by severe recession, a financial system on the verge of collapse, and a government deeply in debt."
"The devastation remains. One in 10 Americans still cannot find work. Many businesses have shuttered. Home values have declined. Small towns and rural communities have been hit especially hard. For those who had already known poverty, life has become that much harder...I know the anxieties that are out there right now. They're not new. These struggles are the reason I ran for president," Obama said.
Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell (Rep.) was quick to criticised Obama and his big government. "In the past year, over three million Americans have lost their jobs, yet the Democratic Congress continues deficit spending, adding to the bureaucracy, and increasing the national debt on our children and grandchildren.
The amount of this debt is on pace to double in five years, and triple in ten. The federal debt is already over $100,000 per household This is simply unsustainable.
The President's partial freeze on discretionary spending is a laudable step, but a small one," McDonell said.
Obama said, that in 2010 he is ready to freeze government spending for the next three years.
With the newly elect Massachusetts U.S. Senator Scott Brown, Republicans in the senate now have the needed votes for a filibuster to block any Democrat bill from passing. Brown's vote could very well stall U.S. Congressman Luis Gutierrez (IL-Dem.) Immigration bill that was introduced on December 15, 2009. Gutierrez' bill,  Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security And Prosperity (CIR ASAP) Act of 2009, H.R. 4321, is legislation that secures our nation's economy, keeps families together and secures our borders while fixing our broken immigration system. 
President Obama called for unity by coming together to fix our economy. He supported the last administration's Financial Rescue Program that kept banks from failing. Most of the money loaned to them has been recovered ($30 billion), and for those banks who pay out bonuses to executives and haven't paid the loans, he is proposing a fee on the loans.
Obama didn't focused on immigration reform, but the 46 million Hispanics living in the United States wield a buying power that totaled more than $980 billion in 2008, and is projected to reach $1.3 trillion in 2013, according to Consumer Reports.
The projected buying power includes undocumented immigrants and the economic expansion by Hispanics has helped to keep U.S. citizens working and to create jobs, and keeping a cap on the national 10% unemployment rate due to 7 million jobs that were lost by the recession.

White House photo by Pete Souza

"I'm interested in protecting our economy... And we should continue the work of fixing our broken immigration system -– to secure our borders and enforce our laws, and ensure that everyone who plays by the rules can contribute to our economy and enrich our nation," Obama briefly said. President Obama has yet to realized the actual economic contributions the Latino population has injected into the American economy and its projected economic power.
A meaningful way to help the crisis, is by using common sense for a steady, secured, and a rapid American economic recovery by passing Congressman Gutierrez' comprehensive reform bill. The bill would allow good standing undocumented immigrants to legally work, keep families together, and pay their fair share of taxes making our economy stronger.
Hispanics will change the profile of American society in the next 30 years, and will continue to increase the percentage of the American Consumer Base.
Even Consumers Union who publishes Consumer Reports 2010, had the report translated into Spanish "Guía de Compras 2010" to tap into the 2013 projected $1.3 trillion U.S. Hispanic buying power.
“With Hispanic buying power in the United States projected to hit $1.3 trillion by 2013, it is more important than ever to provide this demographic with the information to make informed purchasing decisions,” said John Sateja, Executive Vice President of Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports.
Consumer Reports magazine has a circulation of 4.3 million and over 3.2 million paid subscribers and is the largest subscription-based Web site in the industry.

For President Obama's (Full text remarks) January 27, 2010, State of the Union speech at the U.S. Capitol, check out White House Internet link: http://bit.ly/9jCB87

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