Say Adios to Harry

Put Sen. Harry Reid in a baseball uniform, and picture him caught in a rundown between bases, shuffling back and forth between Nevada and Washington, seconds away from being tagged out.

That's the image that came to mind as the Senate majority leader was caught speaking out of both sides of his mouth about immigration reform last week.

In Nevada, the state where his re-election could depend on Hispanic voters, Reid said that Congress needs to deal with this issue immediately and that he would work on it upon returning to Washington. "We're going to come back; we're going to have comprehensive immigration reform now," he said at an April 10 pro-immigrant rally in Las Vegas. "We need to do this this year. We cannot wait."

But in Washington, only three days later, Reid said exactly the opposite. Afflicted by either short-term dementia or blatant hypocrisy, he said immigration was getting shelved again!

After meeting with other Democratic senators for lunch (and apparently being admonished for promising too much at the rally), Reid told reporters that the Senate will not be getting to immigration "during this work period" — meaning the next seven weeks, until Congress shuts down for the Memorial Day recess — leaving very little time for such a complex issue this summer.

Mind you, at the rally, Reid had been very specific about the head count in the Senate. He claimed there are 56 Democratic senators who are ready to vote for immigration reform. "I've got 59 Democratic senators; all but three would support this," he said. "I want a handful of Republicans, a few Republicans. Let them step forward. ... There is no excuse."

Yet what's Reid's excuse, after meeting only with Democratic senators, for his about-face?

It appears that his head count was totally off. There are certainly more than three Democratic senators, especially vulnerable incumbents in conservative states, who are reluctant to deal with such a controversial issue before the midterm elections.

Reid may need the Hispanic vote in Nevada, but in states where the xenophobes outnumber Latinos, Democratic incumbents wish this issue simply would disappear.

Even Reid agrees with that. "This is not an issue that's going to go away,'' Reid said Thursday after meeting with a group of Latino lawmakers. "I know there are people who simply want it to go away.''

Reid's pledge to pass immigration reform this year apparently caught many Democrats in Congress and Obama administration officials by surprise, especially because the retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens has given the Senate and the administration the additional huge task of confirming a new Supreme Court nominee this summer.

After the fight over health care reform, some Democrats are obviously fearful of debating yet another issue that could excite and mobilize conservative Republicans and independents.

Nevertheless, Reid needs to find a way to excite and mobilize Hispanic voters in Nevada. And those are the circumstances that have left him stranded, like a baseball player caught between the bases. As majority leader, he needs to fight even for anti-immigrant Democrats to stay in office. But as a senator from Nevada, where 20 percent of the population and 12 percent of the registered voters are Latinos, he needs to do more than just talk about immigration; he needs to deliver!

A huge Latino voter turnout is what gave Barack Obama the margin of victory in Nevada in 2008. But the huge Latino disappointment, with both Obama and Reid, over broken immigration promises could end up costing Reid his job and sending Obama a very clear message: "Yes, we can" remove the politicians who betray us!

Don't expect Latinos to vote for Draconian anti-immigrant Republicans. But if the Democrats fail to pursue immigration reform before the elections, you surely can expect many Latinos to stay home on Election Day, and for Reid, that means adios!

Yet instead of "we cannot wait" for immigration reform, a Reid spokeswoman now is telling reporters that the senator "remains committed to considering a comprehensive immigration reform bill on the Senate floor as soon as possible."

Still, some crucial questions remain: Is that before or after the midterm elections? Does Reid now expect another vote of confidence from Latino voters without first delivering the immigration reform he and other Democrats, including President Obama, have been promising?

When immigrant rights advocates finally realize that they have no greater enemies than some of the Democrats pretending to be their friends, when they accept the fact that immigration reform is not going to happen this year, when they stop marching in vain and start organizing campaigns to punish all anti-immigrant politicians in the midterm elections — that's when they'll begin to get some respect. When Latino and other immigrant leaders have the guts to tell voters to stay home on Election Day rather than vote for phony friends, that's when the political establishment will really pay attention.

For example, in Nevada, where voters have the option to select "none of these candidates," if enough Latinos were to cause the demise of the majority leader, perhaps President Obama would take them much more seriously before he seeks re-election in 2012.

Otherwise, Obama also could be caught speaking out of both sides of his mouth and stranded between the bases.

I know! If I only knew how to draw, I could be a great cartoonist! I could paint an Immigration Ballpark, with Latino voters on one team and politicians on the other. Reid would be caught between the bases, and Obama would be the hitter waiting on deck.

To find out more about Miguel Perez and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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