This afternoon I went up to Hartford, CT to hear Barack Obama speak at the United Church of Christ's 50th anniversary General Synod.  Connecticut doesn't get much attention from presidential candidates.  They slip in and out of the state to raise money, but rarely bother to do any actual campaigning.  Obama's speech wasn't open to the general public but I figured it was the probably the only campaign appearance he'll make here.  I was excited to have the opportunity to hear him in person.

Obama is a member of a UCC Church and the nearly 9,000 attendees were eager to hear what he had to say.  For the most part his speech didn't disappoint them.  In his stump speech (and his book "The Audacity of Hope") Obama frames the debate in terms of morality and inclusion.  He spoke about the importance of people of all faiths as well as nonbelievers coming together to address issues such as poverty, health care, and ending the war in Iraq.  The crowd gave him several standing ovations, the most fevered coming after he called on them to continue their fight to end the war on Iraq.

And then he turned his attention to immigration.  That's where things got interesting...

There's more...

This week immigration has been in the news and on my mind quite a bit. It started with the Republican debate on Tuesday night. Listening to the candidates made me realize that recently the GOP has done a better job of framing the Immigration debate by marrying it to homeland security. The human element gets lost in the fear mongering and Democrats end up on the defensive. How can we reclaim the moral high ground on this issue?

The immigration bill is dead, or maybe it isn't. According to an article in today's WaPo lawmakers plan to keep talking. The future of the bill, and the estimated 15 million people it would immediately affect remains unclear.

Meanwhile in New Haven CT, the municipal government actually did something about immigration reform this week. They approved issuing a form of municipal ID, available to any resident regardless of their immigration status. The idea was conceived so that undocumented workers could open bank accounts instead of having to carry large amounts of cash on their person making them a target for muggers. But it's been expanded so that the ID can function as a library card, debit card and a nifty way to pay parking meters.

There's more...