Richard Garcia eat your heart out. When you have a mayor that has access to the president of the United States. There is really not much you can do!
EDINBURG, November 7 - Edinburg Mayor Joe Ochoa says he plans to take a delegation of local leaders to Washington, D.C., to invite Barack Obama to visit the Rio Grande Valley.
Ochoa, who was one of the first elected officials in the Valley to endorse Obama for president, said he want to make sure that the Obama-Biden administration is well-educated on border issues.
A number of Valley business leaders have voiced concerns over Obama’s plans for NAFTA. On the campaign trail Obama said he would renegotiate NAFTA, which economists believe has helped strengthen and diversify the Valley economy.
“The best opportunity for the area would be to bring the president-elect to the Valley and see what NAFTA has done here,” Ochoa told the Guardian. “Obama still has much to learn about the region and issues on the border have to be handled in a delicate manner.”
Ochoa met Obama when the Illinois senator held a campaign rally at the University of Texas-Pan American in February. “Viva Obama… Obama Viva,” Ochoa sang, in a warm-up speech at the event.
Ochoa said he backed Obama for president even though there are some concerns that the next administration will take a more protectionist stance on trade. “We need change. Barack Obama gives us hope,” Ochoa said, at a South Texas Democrats for Obama-sponsored campaign event at The Social Club in Edinburg in September. Ochoa added that the Bush administration had driven the U.S. economy into the ditch.
Ochoa said he has no doubts the Obama-Biden administration can be educated on the importance of trade with Mexico and Latin America.
“It is so important that leaders from this community come together as soon as possible and try to set goals, and invite him (Obama) to this area and make sure he is well educated on border issues,” Ochoa said. “I think we need to look at this as a regional effort.”
Ochoa believes the Valley’s congressional delegation of Congressmen Solomon Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi, Rubén Hinojosa, D-Mercedes, and Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, can play a big role in reaching out and educating Obama and his Cabinet on what makes the fast-growing and dynamic Valley region tick.
"Our leaders in Congress, I feel all of them are very united and will be able to speak to president-elect Obama and educate him on some of the issues that are prevalent along the border,” Ochoa added.
The Valley voted overwhelmingly for Obama, despite the concerns of some about the candidate’s stance on NAFTA and despite the fact that Republican candidate John McCain comes from a border state, Arizona. Obama won 64.06 percent of the vote in Cameron County, 69.06 percent in Hidalgo County, 84.06 percent in Starr County, and 69.53 percent in Willacy.
