Den kanskje beste grunnen for å støtte Senator McCains kandidatur er hans positive syn på innvandring. McCain, ikke ulikt slik Reagan de facto gjorde i sin tid, ønsker å tilby et fullt amnesti til "ulovlige innvandrere".
Hans prinsippfaste holdning til innvandring, kunne kostet han nominasjonen. Dana Milbank, i Washington Post skrev så sent(!) som 13 Desember en meget bra artikkel om den Panamafødte senatoren fra Arizona.
Standing His Ground: (Her er et lite utdrag)
Sometimes it seems as though John McCain has a death wish.
Say what you will about the Republican senator from Arizona (and pretty much everybody does): He is the bravest candidate in the presidential race. While his rivals pander to primary constituencies, the former prisoner of war gives audiences a piece of his mind.
But when Q&A time comes, the questioners want to know about immigration -- not the guest-worker program McCain hatched with Ted Kennedy, but what the candidate will do to seal the borders.
"I got the message," he tells the first questioner.
"They want the border secured first." The man continues to vent. "You represent the emotion that a lot of people have on this issue," McCain soothes.
He fields a few questions about Iraq before a man with a rough New England accent challenges him about "amnesty toward the illegal aliens." McCain attempts a gentle rebuttal ("These are God's children, they are human beings"), but this only makes the questioner turn ugly. He complains about those who "tax your Social Security and give it to the Mexicans" and about illegal immigrants who get free emergency-room care.
"It's that option or let them die," McCain explains.
The man is livid. "My wife and I were for you before you hooked up with Ted Kennedy on this thing," he says.
"I come from a state where illegal immigration has had an enormous impact," McCain replies. "We have people who die in the desert."
"Well," the man growls, "they take their chances."
"I guess that's one way of looking at it," McCain says in an even tone that hides his anger. "And I understand why you wouldn't support me."
McCain may never become president, but he'll end this race with something many rivals have left on the campaign trail: dignity.
Dignity - verdighet, er akkurat det ordet som best beskriver holdningen.
En av dem som raskest mulig burde sikres amerikansk statsborgerskap er guyansk fødte Abdool Habibullah, mannen har tjenestegjordt i Irak og blitt "Honorably discharged from the Marines" som sersjant. Som han selv uttaler til New York Times:
“If what I’ve done for this country isn’t enough for me to be a citizen, then I don’t know what is.”
Det er nettopp i møte med slike personer jeg er glad for at det er John McCain som blir årets GOP nominerte, kan hende at han ikke bare beholder verdigheten, men også blir USAs neste president.
2 comments:
Du mener "...only makes us more American" ?
Men jeg er i alle tilfelle helt enig. Men selv for en som ikke er fan av fri innvandring bør i rasjonalitetens og pragmatismens navn lage en eller annen slags amnestiordning for ulovlige innvandrere i USA. Det er helt horribelt at dogmer, enten de er prinsipielle, populistiske eller ideologiske, skal hindre oppegående republikanere å lage en bedre strategi for dette enorme problemet enn det som er i dag.
Mente det ja Sondre (og nå endret).
Ellers er vi jo helt enig.
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