The decisive re-election of President Barack Obama in the United States last month has highlighted the rapidly changing face of the country, with liberals particularly hopeful that minorities are leading the nation along a path toward a more multicultural future in the 21st century.
In the meantime, the Republican Party has been left to do a lot of soul-searching to try and figure out how it can reinvent itself as its only remaining reliable demographic – ageing white men – continues to dwindle.
In spite of all the fiery partisan rhetoric that has been paralysing Washington DC over the course of the last four years, there seems to be at least one issue that now has a chance to unite both the Republican and the Democratic Party, and that is American immigration reform. Obama is set on forging ahead as early as next month with a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s immigration system, once the continuing fiscal cliff negotiations are out of the way, and even the House of Representatives’ Republican Speaker, John Boehner, has acknowledged that immigration reform is needed, despite the fact that he voted against the Dream Act five years ago back in 2007. “A comprehensive approach is long overdue,” Boehner admits. “And I’m confident that the President, myself, others can find the common ground to take care of this issue once and for all.”
For Republicans, the writing is on the wall following Mitt Romney’s spectacular election failure and even former Republican President George W Bush is now urging his party to cooperate with immigration reform.