Valley residents speculate on order of items on Obama's to-do list

Political pundits differ on how President-elect Barack Obama's policies on health care, immigration and trade will impact the Rio Grande Valley.

Some fear the Democrat might not be as in tune with border issues as his opponent in Tuesday's general election, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

But area officials do believe the strong showing for Democrats among Cameron and Hidalgo county voters will garner the Rio Grande Valley more attention from Austin and Washington, D.C.

Leaders in both capitals will be closely following the president-elect's first 100 days in office to see what priorities he sets and which proposals he puts forward first.

Jose Bocanegra, who lectures on U.S. political institutions and economic and public policy at the University of Texas-Brownsville/Texas Southmost College, does not expect the issue of immigration will make it to the forefront in those first 100 days.

"Immigration is not high (on Obama's list of priorities)," Bocanegra said, noting the divisiveness it has tended to engender. He predicts immigration reform may not be advanced until Obama's third or fourth year in office.

Healthcare reform is another story. Bocanegra expects movement on that front within the first 100 days of the new presidency.

He also doesn't discount what a black president is likely to bring to a predominantly Hispanic region.

"What happens to one minority matters to another minority group," he said. "It has symbolic meaning."

But Bocanegra believes McCain, who comes from a state with a higher Hispanic population, would have been a "better fit" with the Hispanic community.

"He understands some of the border issues better," Bocanegra said.

However, as Nathan Selzer sees it, Obama's election suggests the next president could well be a Mexican-American.

"I would hope that it is inspiring for all of us here to see that the U.S. took a huge step farther," said Selzer, who serves as Valley project coordinator for Mi Familia Vota, a nonprofit, get-out-the-vote initiative.

He also believes healthcare reform is on the president-elect's to-do list.

"That is clearly a huge issue for our community," Selzer said.

In addition, he is hopeful some "common sense" will be applied in the debate over immigration.

Gilberto Hinojosa, chairman of the Cameron County Democratic Party, said the Valley will have a president and administration "that cares, that has a heart and a belief in social justice."

"The only thing that many of us worry about is that George Bush spent all the money," Hinojosa said. "There is nothing left, and Barack is going to have to deal with that."

Obama won Hidalgo County by a wide margin, but the day after, local leaders of both parties expressed reservations about how well the Hawaii-born Chicagoan understood border issues.

He targeted the North American Free Trade Agreement in early debates and has said little about the divisive issue of immigration aside from promising to streamline the cumbersome bureaucracy that oversees it.

During the campaign, "as the economy started going south, immigration reform started going down on the agenda," County Judge J.D. Salinas said Wednesday. "It's up to us as South Texas to educate Obama about NAFTA and maybe about immigration reform,"

Hidalgo County Republican Chairman Hollis Rutledge thinks he knows just the man for the job: U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo.

"I would hope that this administration would embrace the ideas and the position that Congressman Henry Cuellar has expressed to us," Rutledge said. "If it's anybody who knows about the free-trade agreement, it's Henry.  Not only is he a Ph.D. person and a lawyer, he's also a licensed customs broker."

Prominent real estate developer and Democratic fundraiser Alonzo Cantu suggested U.S. Rep. Rubén Hinojosa, D-Mercedes, would likewise make a sound adviser, especially on the region's education needs, but said there is no substitute for visiting the Valley.

"I think it would be nice that in the future (Obama) visit South Texas and look at our needs," Cantu said. "We don't want to be taken for granted."

U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, Obama's erstwhile rival for the Democratic nomination, had a stronger connection to the region than the current president-elect, Rutledge said. Obama will have to play catch-up - and tone down his rhetoric on NAFTA, the agreement that spurred and sustains the cross-border economy that is so important to the Valley's growth.

Of course, the president-elect can be allowed a few days or months to get his house in order.

"If you and I talk a year from now, and nothing has been talked about on these issues, then I will be concerned," Salinas said.