Biden: Obama and I Are “Breaking Our Neck” on Immigration Reform

Oct 31, 2012
9:40 AM

Vice President Joe Biden is talking about the US Latino vote again, as reported by Politico:

"Right now, you’ve got the president and I and a lot of Democrats out there breaking our neck trying to get a real immigration law that takes millions of people out of the shadows, making sure that 'Dreamers' don’t have to go back in many cases to countries they’ve never been," he said in an interview with the Enrique Santos radio show.

The vice president urged Latino listeners to vote for him and Obama so Republicans would be spurred to join them in passing an immigration law. He said if they turned out in large numbers and pushed Obama and Biden to victory, it would send a message to the GOP.

“If the Latino vote comes out, the Hispanic vote comes out and changes the election, all of a sudden those guys who paid no attention to you, no attention to the Hispanic community, no attention to the Latino community. All of a sudden they're going to say, 'Oh my Lord I guess we better get in line with the president. I guess we better start moving in the direction of paying attention to this incredible, this incredible pool of talent we have out there. So this is a chance to gain influence that’s almost disproportionate to the impact that you may have directly in the election."

Here is the complete audio of what Biden said:

Now, let's not forget that the Obama administration has had its issues with the US Latino community, highlighted by the fact that the record deportations have occurred under his administration. But, like we have also said many times on this site for the last 12 months, the Republican Party and Romney lost a huge opportunity last year to tone down its immigration tough talk rhetoric. And you wonder why Mitt Romney is trailing by a 3-to-1 margin in the latest polls among US Latino voters? Connect the dots, people.

So, yes, Biden needs to be taken to task for trying to gloss over some major issues that US Latino voters still have with the Obama administration. Do people remember his "papers" line earlier this year? Ugh. However, let's not pretend that all is well now because Obama and Biden are breaking their necks on immigration reform. Obama has a chance for a second term on Tuesday because Romney never truly understood the nuances of the US Latino vote. Instead of being a moderate on immigration from the very beginning, Romney chose his draft picks early, and last time we checked, someone like Kris Kobach doesn't have a lot of fans in the Latino community. That is what the Obama campaign should be reminding people. Changing the narrative at this point is a tough sell.