President Obama Defends Slavery?

President Barack Obama said something pretty darn surprising in a speech recently. He said "(?) have been the labor force of our farmers and agricultural producers for generations. So even if it was possible, a program of mass (?) would disrupt our economy and communities in ways that most Americans would find intolerable."

I wonder- what sort of people was he describing that are the labor force of our farmers and agricultural producers, a sort of people who are underpaid, treated poorly, and often times not given their full rights? These people might work very hard to produce cotton or something. Now let's suppose that we wanted to do something about these people, something to fix the situation, something that would make things lawful and right, but to do so would disrupt our economy and communities in a way that many, perhaps in the South, would find intolerable. I wonder- what would you do?

So, do you think that President Obama was arguing in favor of slavery or in favor of illegal immigration? Go ahead- replace the first question mark with 'slaves' or 'migrant workers - mostly here illegally' and replace the second question mark with 'emancipation' or 'mass deportations'- and you'll see that the argument is very similar.

People used to argue that slaves were important because of their work producing agricultural products and to get rid of slavery would be disruptive. Today people argue that migrant workers (mostly illegal immigrants) are important because of their work producing agricultural products and to change the situation would be disruptive.

Something needs to be done with those people who came to our country illegally, who disobeyed and disregarded the laws of our nation, and who snuck into our country under the cover of darkness and deceit. I don't know what, but I do know that simply saying 'okay, you're all citizens now' is not the right approach and is an approach that demands no courage and is an approach that will invite further lawbreaking and illegal immigration. I know that 'disruption to the economy' is important, but deporting illegal immigrants who broke the law will be no more disruptive to our economy than the healthcare bill that was recently passed or the cap and tax bill that Obama wants passed, so Obama is disingenuous and selective using this argument. And illegal immigrants haven't been in in the labor force for generations- if they have any kids, they're citizens, so they are no longer illegal immigrants and demand minimum wage and full rights and so likely won't be 'migrant workers'- so making an argument that they have been here for generations is a bad argument too.

You go ahead and read Obama's speech if you want, and you tell me- is he Abraham Lincoln or Stephen Douglas, or some local nobody that couldn't match wits with either?