The Lone Republican Ranger

He is doing more for the Republican Party than anyone can imagine, perhaps saving the GOP from complete alienation in Latino and other immigrant communities. And yet, for supporting comprehensive immigration reform, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has been called a socialist and a traitor by the conservative wing of his own party.

For the past few weeks, Graham, the only Republican courageously promoting immigration reform in the Senate, has been exposing President Barack Obama's phony posture on immigration.

By calling Obama's bluffs, Graham is showing that immigration reform is still not a top priority for the president, who promised to tackle the issue during his first year in office. And Graham undoubtedly is scoring huge gains among Latinos and other immigrants who are tired of being used and taken for granted by the Democratic Party.

He has become the new John McCain of immigration politics, hated by many in his own party yet keeping his party afloat among many others.

Here's one Republican who obviously recognizes that the GOP no longer can afford to keep alienating Latinos and other immigrants. Even Sen. McCain, trying to get re-elected in Arizona, has been keeping a low profile on immigration nowadays and leaving Graham as the Lone Republican Ranger on immigration reform.

Yet many conservative extremists, blinded by their hatred of immigrants, clearly don't appreciate Graham's efforts to rebuild broken bridges between the GOP and the immigrant communities. They don't see that Graham is making Obama look terrible in the eyes of many of the people who elected him president.

Many Latino and other immigrant leaders, mostly Democrats who supported Obama when he ran for president, now are telling him that it's simply not enough for him to keep reaffirming his support for immigration reform. But when a Republican — a leader of the traditionally anti-immigrant party — is telling Obama that it's time for him to act and stop talking, it carries even more weight.

After Obama recently reaffirmed his "unwavering" commitment to fix our broken immigration system — to appease the angry pro-immigrant protesters in several cities — Graham said the president was only paying lip service while doing "almost nothing" to promote immigration reform.

"This idea that the president's been unwavering on immigration doesn't really pass the smell test," Graham said March 14 on ABC's "This Week."

The White House insists that the president is waiting for the "framework" of "bipartisan" legislation Graham is drafting with Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. But Graham, apparently tired of seeing the president sit back and do nothing on this issue, has challenged Obama to come up with his own plan.

"You do the heavy lifting," Graham said, indirectly addressing the president. "You put together a comprehensive immigration reform package. You bring it to the Senate and House and see how many Democrat and Republican supporters you can get. All you've done is talk about what we should do. Now is the time to lead."

Without the help of any other Senate Republican, Graham is exposing Obama's broken immigration promises and the Democrats' unwillingness to spend political capital on this issue. Of course, this will not make many Latinos or other immigrants automatically vote for Republican candidates in the midterm elections, but it will make them pause before they vote against them.

More than ever, minority voters are realizing that our leaders need to be chosen by their individual positions on key issues, including immigration, instead of by party affiliation.

Yet considering Republicans' record on immigration — and the huge number of immigrant-bashers in their ranks — it's truly amazing that a Republican senator could be making a Democratic White House play defense!

Reaching for excuses to explain the administration's failure to pursue immigration reform, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs made clear March 30 that if reform legislation fails this year, the Democrats — quite ridiculously — are getting ready to blame Republicans!

"The president has been a strong advocate and proponent of immigration reform," Gibbs said.

In other words, if more Republicans don't step up, they are to be blamed.

Of course, that's not the same affirmative "Yes, We Can" message we heard from the Obama campaign in 2008, and it's certainly not the majority-rules approach that Democrats used to drive health care reform through Congress.

Now the Democrats want us to believe that if they don't keep their promises to reform immigration, it is the Republicans' fault.

C'mon! We always knew that immigration reform had minimal Republican support and huge conservative opposition. After the way health care reform was rammed down the throats of Republicans, we always knew immigration reform would become even harder for them to swallow.

Nevertheless, Gibbs said that the president will meet with Republican lawmakers "in the near future" and that he will "gauge whether or not it's possible to move forward on this issue."

Of course, that is a far cry from "Yes, We Can" or "Sí, Se Puede." It's the first acknowledgment by the White House that immigration reform may not be possible this year.

However, even before Obama tries to win the support of a few Republican senators — necessary to get a 60-vote supermajority — the president needs to secure the support of several Democratic senators who have stood against immigration reform in the past.

"I urge the president to write a bill and see if he can get another Republican, see if he can convince the 16 Democrats who voted 'no' last time," Graham said. "Write a bill, and send it to me. I'll be glad to look at it."

As pro-immigrant marchers occupy the streets of our cities — pleading for Obama to deliver on his promises — Graham says people at those rallies should know that their president has been feeding them only "political spin."

He is calling Obama's bluffs, making Latinos and other immigrants see the deceptions of the Democratic Party, giving Republicans an opportunity to regain lost ground in the immigrant communities, and trying to save his party from becoming extinct. And yet Sen. Graham has become the target of immigrant-bashers.

On the Internet, many of them have called on South Carolina voters to boot him out of office. One of them charged that Graham is "as big a communist as Schumer." Another one said "Senator Grahamnesty" should stop pretending to be a conservative. One suggested that Graham should pack his bags and move south of the border. And yet another one assumed that Graham "must have an illegal alien mistress on the side or something."

They don't know a good and courageous politician even when they see one.

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.

COPYRIGHT 2010 CREATORS.COM