During a White House press conference, President Obama vowed to take on immigration reform if he wins a second term in office. He also gave former President George W. Bush some credit on the politically thorny issue.

The president, speaking at a lunchtime press conference at the White House, told reporters that immigration reform is a moral imperative for the country.

“We can be a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants,” Obama said responding to a question about how he plans to take on the difficult issue. “It’s not just a Hispanic issue it’s an issue for everybody. It’s American issue that we need to fix.”

Obama has talked about immigration reform occasionally during his first term, but hasn’t devoted sustained effort to getting legislation passed. I interviewed his former Domestic Policy Adviser Melody Barnes on the issue last year. The initiative the White House was planning then went nowhere, but Obama said he’ll try again if re-elected.

“We didn’t get it done and the reason we haven’t gotten it done is because what used to be a bipartisan agreement that we should fix this ended up being a partisan issue,” Obama said today, before offering some kudos to Bush, a Texan who understood better than most the unique challenges that illegal immigration poses to the United States.

“I give a lot of credit to my predecessor George Bush and his political advisers who said this should not be just something the Democrats support; the Republican Party is invested in this as well,” Obama said. “That was good advice then and it’s good advice now.

Obama is faring better among potential Hispanic voters than anyone in the Republican presidential field at the moment, a fact he certainly hopes to capitalize on in the upcoming election.

Read the full story at the Albuquerque Journal