Editorial:
It should come as no surprise that we are endorsing Barack Obama for President. According to the polls, President Obama enjoys the support of 70% percent of the Hispanic community and we count ourselves among that 70%.
When President Obama was first elected, he entered the Oval Office with the hopes and dreams of millions on his shoulders. Many expected big changes. But we understood the monumental task that lay ahead of him back in 2008. The country’s economy was in a free fall, Washington partisanship was at its worst, governmental bureaucracy needed a tuneup, and we knew that President Obama had his hands full. It would be impossible to fulfill every promise and hope.
Job #1 on the Obama to do list was to turn the economy around and he has done so. The economy is on the up-swing, maybe not a fast as we would have liked, but it is steadily improving. As former President Bill Clinton stated, you couldn’t expect him to fix 8 years of messing up the economy in just 4 years, it takes time. And as he pointed out, the Republicans messed up the economy, Obama didn’t fix it to their liking and now they want it back to apply the same principles that got us into this mess in the first place.
We applaud President Obama for passing the Health Care Reform package. In a country as great as America, the large number of people who cannot afford insurance or healthcare is unacceptable. To go back and undo the Health Care Reform Act as Romney has promised would be the wrong direction for this country.
The one glaring misstep in the Obama administration was the lack of comprehensive immigration reform. In fact, more migrants were deported under President Obama’s term than any other administration. Last year, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement removed 396,906 illegal immigrants, the largest number in the agency’s history. This has been a sore spot for the Hispanic community. Still, President Obama passed a deferred action policy that keeps some students in the country. Romney has come out opposing the DREAM Act.
Despite the immigration record, President Obama has the country on the right track. A return to a Republican Presidency would be a step backwards. President Obama has earned another four years to complete the task of turning around the country and a chance to pass a common-sense immigration package. Immigration reform needs to deal with students, families, and the issue of providing workers for the nation’s businesses.
