If it had been a soccer match, Twitter might have exploded with tweets of "Own Goal!" At the MSNBC/Telemundo Town Hall last night, Bernie Sanders scored one for Hillary Clinton's incrementalism. Here is the exchange.
QUESTION: (SPEAKING SPANISH)The Great and Powerful Oz has spoken! (Feel the burn, Bern?)
Yes, my question to you, sir, if you become the president of the United States, what would you do about the bars my husband -- I'm an American citizen, my girl is an American citizen. My husband was here 18 years. I tried to bring him out of shadows, how you said, and I petitioned him.
And they gave him a 10-year bar. He has been in Mexico doing his 10 years, six years now we've been separated. My little girl was in kindergarten when he left, the one in the…
QUESTION: The other one was in middle school and now she's going to graduate high school this year and her dad is not here to see that.
What would you do to bring my husband home?
SANDERS: I'll tell you what I would do. What you just described is unacceptable, and should not be happening.
My immigration policy is to unite families, not to divide families. When I was here in Las Vegas a couple of months ago I heard a story. A young man who was in the United States military. While he was in the United States military his wife was deported. Can you believe that?
QUESTION: (OFF MIKE) Yes. (INAUDIBLE...)
SANDERS: ... Clearly those not the policies that I want to see, and I will change those policies.
QUESTION: How long -- how long, when you get there, how long will it take to change those policies because I've been waiting six years...
SANDERS: ... That I can't tell you.
QUESTION: ... Six years of my life.
SANDERS: I can't, you know -- we will use our executive office and power as much as we can. Hopefully we'll have the cooperation of the United States congress.
QUESTION: Thank you.
After leading hordes of hopeful Millennials along the Yellow Brick Road for months nurturing a belief system rooted in cultural revolution and promised instant gratification, the man behind the curtain was forced into a corner where he had to admit that he has no magic powers and change takes time.
Much of the Millennial discontent with Hillary Clinton's complex platform lies in their impatience with her steadfast stance that we should not sweep away accomplishments of the past seven years in favor of an improbable chance of replacing them wholesale in a magical moment of fantastical bipartisan cooperation. No matter your age, mental or chronological, Hillary Clinton speaks to you as an adult to an adult. Reasonably.
As for accelerating movement on her plans, with her impressive collection of endorsements, Hillary was able to offer this last night.
I understand that somebody asked Senator Sanders a question because her husband was in Mexico -- I don't who asked that question. And I want to tell you, I will end the three and 10-year bar provision so that you do not have to face that ever again.
TODD: Let me follow up on something. I've asked you a few times about the prioritization of immigration reform.
CLINTON: Right.
TODD: And when I'm talked about -- asked you about your first 100 days priorities, you've mentioned a lot of issues, and you haven't put immigration reform first. And some immigration reform advocates are concerned that if you don't put it first, that the same thing that happened in '07, the same thing in '10 -- how do you prevent that if you don't make it first? As you know these legislative lifts are hard? And the concern is if it's not first, it may not happen. What do you say?
CLINTON: Well, when we both had a chance to vote on comprehensive immigration reform in 2007, the bill that Senator Ted Kennedy championed, I voted for it; Senator Sanders voted against it. So I know how important it is to put together a coalition.
If I'm fortunate enough to get the Democratic nomination, I will immediately begin working on the priority legislation that I want the Congress deal with right away, and immigration reform will be among those issues.
Now for me the way that Congress works, and I think my friend Congresswoman Marcia Fudge is here somewhere.
CLINTON: There she is. Thank you.
The way that the Congress works, there are a bunch of committees, and the committees have different jurisdiction. So if you're dealing with immigration reform you go to one committee, if you're dealing with equal pay for women you go to a different committee.
So what I want do is get my priority legislation ready to go, begin working even with Democrats in the Congress during the general election. I also want to do that for nominations, because I want to get the judges I want to appoint, I want to get the other important officials appointed.
So I'm not going to waste a minute. That's why I want to get this nomination as quickly as possible so I can gets to work on being your president.
This essay by Dolores Huerta is well worth a read and a share >>>>
Phone bank for Hillary in NV >>>>
