Opinion: Tancredo for President?
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Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) officially announced his bid for presidency today, promising to focus on illegal immigration even as many of us hold out hope that reform will make immigration a minor issue in 2008. Tancredo claims that ‘the great tradition of American assimilation has broken down. The melting pot has cracked, and our Founding ideals are leaking through.’
If I wanted to split hairs, and I do, I might say that in the outdated melting-pot metaphor, it’s the pot and not the melted goo that likely stands for the ‘Founding ideals’. That leaves Tancredo — at least as far as the ‘melting pot has cracked’ portion of his speech goes — in the unexpected position of having said something wise about immigration policy.
Tancredo’s run is probably more about rousing immigration antagonists as the push for reform starts again than about winning the highest elected office in the land--the man himself once said that he was too fat, too short, and too bald to be president. Still, he did take the time in February to tell us his thoughts about that other big issue for 2008 — Iraq. Read Tancredo’s thoughts, and those of other candidates, after the jump.
From Rep. Tancredo:
The nature of the conflict in Iraq and our role in that conflict have changed. We are now referees in what has become a civil war. I cannot see how, even if the ‘surge’ temporarily pacifies Baghdad, we can in the long run consider our participation in this conflict as helpful in the global conflict against radical Islam. Our departure from Iraq will result in one of two scenarios. One, the people of Iraq will prove themselves capable of the challenge of democracy. Or the factions in Iraq — and the regional powers backing them — will continue to battle with one another. In either case, there are potential advantages for the U.S.
For comments from other candidates, click here.
(Photo courtesy Getty Images.)