Notes to Obama: Jorge Ramos
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/programmes/world_news_america/7820540.stm Version 0 of 1. A new president cannot have too much good advice, so BBC World News America is asking personalities from various walks of life to tell president-elect Barack Obama what they think he should do when he takes up his new job on 20 January. JORGE RAMOS Mexican-born anchor for Spanish-language Univision NewsAuthor of several books, including The Latino WaveOne of the most influential Hispanics in the US Here, bestselling author and television anchor Jorge Ramos asks Mr Obama to keep a promise to Latinos. Mr president I get the temptation of calling you Barack because you made us feel so comfortable during the campaign that most people call you simply Barack or Obama... It is inevitable that you are going to disappoint a lot of people simply because there are so many hopes and expectations resting on your shoulders that it is going to be impossible to fulfil them all. I've been checking the wires and the internet and some TV reports lately and of course people want everything from you - people all around the world - they want you to fix the economy, not only in the United States but in all the world. They want you to end the war, to reverse climate change, to stop nuclear proliferation and to find peace in the Middle East in only the next couple of weeks and it's going to be impossible. You said: 'What I can guarantee is that we will have in the first year an immigration bill.' And that's exactly what I want you to remember, that you promised us Jorge Ramos But I remember something that you told me in one of our interviews. On 28 May 2008 in Denver, Colorado we had an interview; you were very relaxed, it was in a small school, you were not in a hurry... And then we had a good conversation on the importance of Latinos in this country and the importance of this group of 50 million and their influence in the future of the United States and of course we were talking about the most important things for Latinos which are jobs, education and healthcare. But there's a symbolic issue and it has to do with illegal immigration. I remember asking you during that interview if you were going to put together a comprehensive immigration bill during the first 100 days of your presidency and you told me, no, I cannot do that. However, you told me the following and I'm going to quote it. You said: 'What I can guarantee is that we will have in the first year an immigration bill.' And that's exactly what I want you to remember, that you promised us, that you promised 50 million Latinos, that you were going to bring out from the shadows 12 million people who are living illegally in this country - and that's exactly what many Latinos are expecting from you. Of course they want you to fix the economy and the war and do many other things - what Latinos are expecting from you [is] to legalise 12 million undocumented immigrants and that's exactly what I'm asking from you, just to keep your promise, that's all, during the first year - you told us. Thank you. Advertisement Notes to Obama: Jorge Ramos <i>BBC World News America airs on BBC World News weeknights at 0000 GMT.</i> |