Immigration. Immigration. Immigration. It's been a stud of an issue in the presidential primary race so far. And it flexed much muscle in the Iowa caucuses. So I find it symbolically striking that the presidential candidate with the best immigrant story stole the show last night. That candidate, of course, would be Barack Obama.
The 46-year-old senator from Illinois easily won the Democratic presidential caucuses in Iowa last night, dusting off his main opponents, Senator Hillary Clinton and John Edwards.
It's way too early to begin hailing Obama as the Next Great Democratic Hope for the White House. But before the New Hampshire primary seizes our collectively low attention span, the media darling du jour deserves a closer look under the immigration microscope.
Anyone who has watched him or listened to his speeches knows he exhibits a powerful combination of charisma and intelligence, of hope and vision. At the foundation of all those winning characteristics is his personal story.
His father, Barack Obama Sr., was born in a small village in Kenya. There, the elder Obama herded goats while his own father worked as a servant for the British. Obama Sr. eventually landed a scholarship to study at the University of Hawaii, where he met Ann Dunham, Barack's mother. She hailed from a small town in Kansas.
Obama hasn't pumped up his classic "son-of-an-immigrant" story in the context of the nation's immigration debate. He has staked a solidly middle-of-the-road position on immigration.See the link below for more from this article:
http://blogs.chron.com/immigration/archives/2008/01/post_69.html
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