More talk. Where’s the action?

Last week was the time when President Barack Obama tried getting the Rev. Al Sharpton and other activists on board with his rhetoric about the need for immigration reform.

This week was the time that Obama “glitzed” up the White House by having the Latina celebrities show up so he could preach about how devoted he wishes he could be toward pushing for a desperately-needed reform of federal immigration policy.

AMONG THE LATINAS invited were Rosario Dawson, America Ferrera and Eva Longoria – to name a few. As though Eva (with her master’s degree in Latino studies) has some special knowledge that will enable our nation to fix the convoluted bureaucratic mess that is our immigration law.

I’d sooner think she has some special knowledge about professional basketball, even though her NBA husband is now an ex-, than she would about federal policy toward newcomers to this nation.

On one hand, I can understand what Obama is thinking. He’s trying to reassure certain people in prominent positions (and yes, entertainers have a certain visibility – even if it doesn’t amount to much) that he’s not unsympathetic to the concerns of the growing Latino population that sees the desires of ideologues as hostile toward our own existence in this society.

Unfortunately, however, getting Sàbado Gigante host Don Francisco to show up at the White House (he also was on the guest list for the Thursday afternoon gathering) only has so much value as a symbolic act. There comes a time when he’s going to have to take some action.

SUCH ACTION ISN’T going to involve sweet-talk to people who are friendly. It is going to involve hard political activity against the people who now are determined to fight this issue (in their minds) to the death.

LONGORIA: Our nation's immigration adviser?



That fight isn’t going to be with people such as Vanessa Hauc, the busty hostess of Al Rojo Vivo on the Telemundo television network. Although my guess is that Obama sees Hauc, Francisco (a.k.a., Mario Kreutzberger), Longoria and all the rest as a way of getting through to the hearts and minds of the people for the day when he does have to take on this political fight.

Which makes events such as Thursday’s hour-long meeting at the White House little more than propaganda stunts.

Then again, it’s not any more trivial than any time a conservative ideologue goes on a rant, thereby inspiring Rush Limbaugh or his ilk to go on a rhetorical rampage against the immigration reform we need.

IF ANYTHING, OBAMA is lining up people who will counter Limbaugh’s future rants. This is a step in the political process.

But as I wrote last week after Obama met with Sharpton and other activists (people who would have been too crude and ugly to fit in with Thursday’s meeting), there comes a time when talk must end and there must be a beginning to political activity.

We need to see and hear the actual process of trying to get something through Congress, including the hard-ball politics that will push such a needed policy past the people who are determined to kill it.

I couldn’t help but notice last week that some reports acknowledged that leading political mouthpiece Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., was NOT invited to that meeting. He wasn’t a part of this session either. I haven’t heard a thing that indicates he’s a part of any gathering at the White House in the near future.

BUT ULTIMATELY, IT is going to take talks with people like Gutierrez to get him moved into action to push for immigration reform. Obama himself can’t enact changes in immigration law.

And for those who say that Obama isn’t including Gutierrez because of the congressman’s outspoken criticism of the president, I’d say that the reason Gutierrez has been critical of Obama is because the president is engaging in nothing more than show-meetings with Hollywood’s Latina glamour girls.

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