© J. Scott Applewhite - Pool/Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Some things in life are predictable: The rising of the sun in the east, the Cleveland Browns stinking, and Barack Obama making tendentious, ideological, self-serving arguments under the guise of
detached thoughtfulness. After
leaking that he would have no choice but to "speak out" on DACA if the new administration canceled his unilateral policy (because it supposedly pains Obama greatly to involve himself in our national debates these days, or something), Obama followed through on the threat in a
lengthy Facebook post. Much of what he wrote about DREAMers was stirring and, in my view correct:
This is about young people who grew up in America - kids who study in our schools, young adults who are starting careers, patriots who pledge allegiance to our flag. These Dreamers are Americans in their hearts, in their minds, in every single way but one: on paper. They were brought to this country by their parents, sometimes even as infants. They may not know a country besides ours. They may not even know a language besides English. They often have no idea they're undocumented until they apply for a job, or college, or a driver's license... Whatever concerns or complaints Americans may have about immigration in general, we shouldn't threaten the future of this group of young people who are here through no fault of their own, who pose no threat, who are not taking away anything from the rest of us.
They are that pitcher on our kid's softball team, that first responder who helps out his community after a disaster, that cadet in ROTC who wants nothing more than to wear the uniform of the country that gave him a chance. Kicking them out won't lower the unemployment rate, or lighten anyone's taxes, or raise anybody's wages...What makes us American is not a question of what we look like, or where our names come from, or the way we pray. What makes us American is our fidelity to a set of ideals - that all of us are created equal; that all of us deserve the chance to make of our lives what we will; that all of us share an obligation to stand up, speak out, and secure our most cherished values for the next generation. That's how America has traveled this far. That's how, if we keep at it, we will ultimately reach that more perfect union.
Although I must point out the technicality that
laws also "make us American," I share most of these sentiments. The trouble with Obama's essay are the other bits, in which he grossly mischaracterizes his own DACA overreach, shades history to absolve himself and his party of DREAMers' current predicament, and accuses Trump of "cruelty" for adhering to the constitution:
Comment: Notice how Waters associates the so-called alt-right with the KKK, white nationalists and so on. The majority of conservative organizations and alternative media (which have been lumped into the 'alt-right') have nothing at all to do with this very small portion of wack-a-doodles. The only people who like to try and make such associations are demented politicians like Waters, media outlets like CNN, and the Neo-Nazis themselves.