Campbell Brown/CNN asks simplistic question, gets stock Barack Obama answer (benefits for illegal aliens)

Last night's CNN Democratic debate is the Sovietski-style gift that keeps giving. Campbell Brown asked Barack Obama a question about immigration that wasn't specific enough, allowing him to simply give his stock reply. Should we assume that Brown is completely naive and wasn't aware that politicians have a habit of doing this? Or, should we assume that she was simply playing a setup role?

The question:

...you've supported various benefits for illegal immigrants, including driver's licenses and in-state college tuition... What do you say to those Americans who say they are losing out because you would give benefits to people who broke the laws of this country, who came here illegally?

A better question would have asked him whether it's good public policy to allow illegal aliens to take college discounts from U.S. citizens, and would have included language in the question asking that he address that specific point. And, when he didn't answer the question the moderator would have interrupted his speech and asked again. (After his speech, Blitzer did to a certain extent by asking about driver's licenses for illegal aliens, which generated the Obama quote already discussed.)

If I had been asking questions, I would have continued to press that point until it was revealed that Obama is willing to throw U.S. citizens under the bus if he thinks he can get votes out of the deal.

Obama's answer contains some of the issues mentioned at the previous link:

I would say that they're justified in feeling frustrated because this administration -- the Bush administration -- has done nothing to control the problem that we have. We've had 5 million undocumented workers come over the borders since George Bush took office [see #3 at the previous link]. It has become an extraordinary problem, and the reason the American people are concerned is because they are seeing their own economic position slip away... And so what we have to do is create a comprehensive solution to the problem. [...issues stock legalization speech...]

So, his solution to the problem is to wave a magic wand and declare current illegal aliens to suddenly become legal workers, and that will fix the problem? Obviously, if Campbell Brown or Wolf Blitzer had been doing their jobs, they would have asked him to specify exactly how that would work.

Immigration2007b · Fri, 11/16/2007 - 11:03 · · Importance: 1