Obama torpedoes Senate Immigration Bill

[BarryW]

It seems that Barack Obama - Presidential hopeful and darling of the European media - had a key role in attempts to scupper the Kennedy/McCain Immigration Bill in the US Senate yesterday.

He introduced an amendment which would end a key provision of the Bill after five years rather than 14.

Chicago Sun Times

This move infuriated Sen. Lindsey Graham (one of the architects of the Bill and a key ally of Sen. John McCain) and the two had heated exchanges inside and outside the Senate chamber.

The amendment infuriated Graham, a South Carolina Republican with close ties to another presidential hopeful, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Pacing the Senate floor and waving Obama's amendment, Graham loudly accused Obama of undermining a delicate agreement whose advocates have shown political courage

Issues that require bipartisanship often fail, Graham said, ''because some people, when it comes to the tough decisions, back away.'' Obama's amendment, he said, would destroy the bill's prospects and bring special woe to Republicans -- such as himself -- who have endured conservatives' searing criticism for backing it.

It would undercut ''everybody over here who's walked the plank and told our base, 'You're wrong,''' Graham said. ''So when you're out on the campaign trail, my friend, tell them about why we can't come together. This is why.''

Almost immediately, the two men continued the argument in a hall just outside the chamber. ''They were going at it,'' said Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla. ''We could hear them inside.''

Graham has a fair point. Many Republicans - including Bush - seem to have gone out on a limb to secure Bipartisan support for this reform of the immigration system, and now a senior Democrat and Presidential candidate has sought to undermine this.

Obama's amendment failed, but it was part of moves which ultimately saw the Bill being shelved. If this Bill dies, it is a huge blow to the Irish in America and to the work of the ILIR.

What does this say for his "Irish" ( ) connections?

[irishpeoplearewhingers]

************************ Obama.

[quirk]