The Opinion Blog

Without Great Choice for President, It's Obama

Sunday’s editorial offers the editorial board’s thoughts on the presidential election:

Few things about this presidential election have lent themselves to unambiguous, clear decisions, despite what the campaigns and their diehard supporters might like us to believe. Neither of the major candidates is a miraculous savior or unmitigated fiend. Both stand before U.S. voters with significant high and low points, and nobody has managed to leap to the fore as the obviously better choice.

For proof, you need look no further than the latest polling data. We give our fellow Americans credit for being fairly smart and invested in the future of this nation, and as such, if the decision on picking our next leader were an easy one, we wouldn’t be coming down to the wire with two candidates that are still neck and neck.

Obama on immigration

Just in my email and copied below, the president's remarks this afternoon after he announced his administration's new immigration policy. Looks like it got a bit testy in the middle. Thoughts?

Toward a More Refined Society



Thursday’s editorial addresses the state’s controversial new immigration law, which was in court this week, and will be again later this month.

Presented with the task of forging a viable law, U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel has fired up his furnace.

Gergel, who plans to rule by Dec. 31 on South Carolina’s illegal immigration law, is now tasked with refining that law, taking out bits here, perhaps polishing something else there, tweaking it so that it not only fulfills its function but fits in with the rest of our state and our nation’s many rules.

16 Nations Agree ...

While it's somewhat humbling to agree with outside powers trying to tell us what to do, I've got to go with the Justice Department and our neighbors down south on this one:

Sixteen Latin American and Caribbean nations on Tuesday asked to join the U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit against South Carolina’s new illegal immigration law amid fears it would lead to their citizens facing state-sanctioned discrimination.

Mexico, Honduras, Brazil, Ecuador and Chile were among the nations filing papers Tuesday, asking to join the litigation filed by the Justice Department last week in Charleston.

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It's frustrating that the federal government has been dragging its feet when it comes to any large-scale immigration law reform or changes, but creating a patchwork of state laws in the meantime isn't the right answer and will only lead to more confusion, not less.

The Sun News Legislative Scorecard



Sunday’s editorial is our annual legislative scorecard:

This year’s legislative session began with a sense of excitement and promise. After eight years of bickering and conflict between Gov. Mark Sanford and the legislature – culminating with the threat of impeachment proceedings against him as a result of his extraordinary political self-immolation – a new face was in the governor’s mansion.

Gov. Nikki Haley promised to work with the legislature to get a number of important measures passed, streamlining the government and opening it up to inspection by those it serves. And in fact some of these worthy goals did come to fruition, chief among them the push for more roll call voting in the House and Senate, which helped make this year’s scorecard possible.

Molehill Building 101



Friday’s editorial takes to task the state’s outsize reaction to illegal immigration, seen in the bill signed this week by the governor.

Fly buzzing around your picnic this summer? Just pull out the nearest sledgehammer and give it a good whack or two.

That’s the type of measured response shown by the immigration law changes enacted by the legislature this year and signed by the governor on Monday. It’s not that we don’t have illegal immigration or need to address it, but the scope of the problem simply doesn’t justify a new $1.3 million immigration task force with custom uniforms and cars, or some of the other unsettling proposals and poorly thought out ideas in the act.

Immigrants (and employers) beware

On Tuesday, the legislature sent S. 20 to Gov. Nikki Haley's desk. If you're not familiar, the bill will require employers to check all new employees through the E-Verify system and require police officers to check the immigration status of people they pull over or arrest if they suspect they may be in the country illegally.

We've said before that we're not convinced it's necessary or a good idea. The state is cutting health programs and public safety budgets. It doesn't follow that it's the time to create a new $1.3 million illegal immigration task force, particularly when the illegal immigrant population in the state is already shrinking, down more than 20 percent since 2007. Please don't mistake my meaning. It's not that we're all gung ho about illegal immigration or unconcerned about its effect on our state's legal residents, but it's hard to say that we needed to dedicate so much time and money to it as we have this year, and now will for the foreseeable future.

Welcome to South Carolina, Some of You

Back in March we came out against the S.C. legislature's attempt to crack down on illegal immigration through police officers, when the effort was in the Senate. It passed shortly afterward. On Tuesday, the House passed the same bill with a few changes. The two versions much now be reconciled before heading to the governor's desk.
Voting for the bill yesterday were most of the Grand Strand's delegation, including Alan Clemmons, Tracy Edge, Nelson Hardwick, George Hearn and Thad Viers. Liston Barfield was present, but did not vote.

Bill opponents called it racial profiling and offered a number of amendments to attempt to derail it or perhaps just ridicule it, including this tongue-in-cheek proposal by Rep. Bakari Sellers that was shot down: "The State Budget and Control Board is directed to erect a fence no shorter than fifteen feet in height around the perimeter of the State of South Carolina with openings along all major interstates and thoroughfares."

Trafficked No Longer



Thursday’s editorial highlights the efforts of the local group battling human trafficking and their efforts to get a more robust law on the subject passed.

It seems a bit surreal as we approach the 150th anniversary of the Civil War to still be talking about the trade in human lives. But 148 years after the Emancipation Proclamation the abomination continues.

In December, a 20-year-old woman in North Charleston told police she was smuggled into the state from Mexico, held against her will and forced to have sex. Others are smuggled in and forced into labor on farms or as household servants. In Myrtle Beach in 2009, police arrested Jorge Flores-Rojas, who operated a sex ring that stretched from the Carolinas up to Washington, D.C.

A Look in the Mirror



Sunday’s editorial offers a warm welcome to all of the region’s new Hispanic residents who showed up in the 2010 census.

If you could have put all of Myrtle Beach’s residents inside the city’s convention center in 2000, you would have noticed that about four out of five seats were filled with white residents. If you did the same thing today, that number would be closer to two out of three. While the city’s population grew 19 percent in the last decade, to more than 27,000, the city’s white population grew at a fraction of that pace, rising only 2 percent.

So who made up the difference? The city’s black population grew 30 percent, but it was the Hispanic population that skyrocketed, more than tripling in 10 years, so that now nearly 1 in 7 of the residents of Myrtle Beach are Hispanic. It’s a remarkable change for the city, but one that is hardly surprising. The area’s warm climate and relaxed nature attracts new residents, and while the region has been struggling recently with unemployment, the city’s hospitality industry still provides many jobs for newcomers.