WASHINGTON, Feb 23 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama,
expressing confidence he will win re-election in November, told
a Hispanic audience he would use a second term to seek
comprehensive immigration reform.
"My presidency is not over," Obama said in an interview with
Univision Radio when asked about his failure so far to push
through an immigration bill. "I've got another five years coming
up. We're going to get this done."
Obama is seeking to shore up support among Hispanic voters,
whose strong backing helped him win the White House in 2008. But
some in the Latino community are disappointed over the lack of
progress toward overhauling the immigration system.
Obama - in an interview broadcast the day before his
Thursday trip to Florida, an election battleground state with a
large Hispanic population - sought to reassure Latinos he was
committed to trying to pass broad immigration reform.
He rejected suggestions that he had broken a campaign
promise and put the blame on Republicans in Congress who he said
were "unwilling to talk at all about any sensible solutions to
this issue."
"So far, we haven't seen any of the Republican candidates
even support immigration reform," Obama said, taking aim at his
potential opponents in the Nov. 6 election.
The White House hopes that hard-line positions taken by
Republican presidential contenders on illegal immigration and
border control will help Obama with Hispanic voters in vital
swing states like Florida, Nevada and Colorado.
(Reporting By Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Peter Cooney)
© 2013 Thomson/Reuters. All rights reserved.