(CBS News) LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who has been widely discussed as a potential vice presidential pick for Mitt Romney, laid into both Democrats and Republicans for politicizing the immigration debate in a way that he said is standing in the way of reform.
Addressing hundreds of Hispanic activists at a meeting of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, Rubio said he had planned to speak about the economy and jobs, but changed his mind to focus on immigration because "both my head and my heart tell me today, perhaps we are as close as we've ever been to a critical turning point in the debate about immigration."
The senator, whose family immigrated to the United States from Cuba, said, "It is a powerful political issue. I have seen people use it to raise money. I have seen people take the legitimate concerns about illegal immigration and turn it into panic, and turn that panic into fear, and anger, and turn that anger into votes and money," he said. "I've also seen people go in the other direction. Anyone who disagrees with their ideas on illegal immigration is anti-immigrant and anti-Hispanic. That's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. Everything is about politics. I've seen it firsthand."
As a result, Rubio said, few members of the Senate are interested in working on immigration reform with him because they have been "burned" by the issue. He had been drafting legislation to provide legal status for the children of illegal immigrants who attend college or serve in the military. His efforts were sidelined a week ago when President Obama announced that his administration would stop deporting young illegal immigrants who had arrived in the United States before their 16th birthday, had no criminal history and pursued an education or military service.
"The reaction of many on the left was an immediate dismissal," Rubio said of his proposal. "I saw people on the left saying that I was proposing a new three-fifths compromise, harkening back to the days when a slave was only three-fifths of a person. I was accused of supporting apartheid."
It was different, he said, when Obama achieved essentially the same goals through executive action. "Now it's the greatest idea in the world. I don't care who gets the credit, I don't, but it exposes the fact that this issue is all about politics for some people," he said.
Still, he could not resist a few partisan swipes at the expense of Obama, who was scheduled to address the conference Friday afternoon, two hours after Rubio.
"I was tempted to come here today and rip open the policies of the administration and I know in a few moments you'll hear from the president. I was tempted to come here and tell you 'Hey, he hasn't been here in three years, what a coincidence. It's an election year.'"
Rubio's speech, like one delivered by Romney at the NALEO conference on Thursday, received moderate but not enthusiastic applause. Still, he seemed to have a deeper connection with the audience, perhaps as a result of beginning his speech with a few paragraphs of Spanish praising the group and thanking them for holding their conference in Florida. Rubio also recounted the story of his grandfather, who came to the United States for a second time on a once-legal immigrant visa that had expired after he returned to Cuba for more than a year. Despite a deportation order, he was ultimately allowed to stay.
Both sides have been "playing" with American lives for the last 3 1/2 years.
This is why we find ourselves in so many crises today.
Somebody needs to point out to Congress, Senators and Obama that serving as leader and representatives of the American people is "NOT A GAME".!!
Usually; in a game; one side loses and the other side wins; but not this one.
While the President and the politicians are busy "playing" with our lives; the American people are the only ones who are losing.
After 3 1/2 years you would think our current politicans would have at least learned something.!!
Evidently not.!!
All they have accomplished with their constant "game playing" is how to show that the other side is at fault and further destroying the US.
The fact that someone who is still deciding what they should do actually allows them to keep from making any decisions.!!
This is what is happening here.
Obama's approval rating is not 33% for nothing.
Congress is not being referred to as "the do nothing" Congress for nothing.
This abysmal record of Congress and Obama is not going to end until November 2012.
John Boehner has already declared he is going to continue to blackmail Congress and the Senate when the talks about the budget come up again in a couple months.
With the attitudes of Obama and Congress already set in stone; America is only going to continue in a downward spiral.!!
And that clearly includes you too, marco rubio, since it was you that said you were going to introduce a form of the 'Dream Act' in the Senate -- basically the same thing protecting young immigrants from being deported as President Obama's temporary fix -- and then you let your republican party sway your decision, in other words, being another hypocrite playing politics!