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“Change You Can Count On” But Can’t Vote On? Obama To Delay Action On Immigration Until After The Elections

Well-be-back-soonPresident_Barack_ObamaThere is a fascinating political shift occurring in Washington this weekend after President Barack Obama walked back from this pledge to act by the end of summer on his unilateral immigration actions and said that he will now wait until after the elections. The move has been openly discussed as an effort to support struggling Democratic candidates who are facing huge opposition to the immigration proposals and are leery of the President taking any action given his own record low polling numbers (which now stand at 38 percent according to Gallup). Various Democratic candidates have been complaining that they are losing ground due to the immigration proposal and that Obama’s pledge could further worsen the currently bleak picture for losses in Congress (and possibly losing both houses to the GOP). While the White House originally saw the proposal as a no-lose proposition and popular with the base, it has proven far less popular around the country, particularly in battleground states. Polls show far greater opposition than support for the proposal. Immigration advocates are denouncing the delay as putting “politics over people.”

The thrust of the decision is that the changes will be made but not until after voters are no longer able to express their opposition in the upcoming elections. That would seem to be a highly insulting proposition for voters, but it has not been treated as anything other than politics as usual by the media. It is a curious approach for a President who ran on the change slogan like “Time for A Change” and “Change You Can Believe In.” It is a “change you can count on [but not vote on]” approach to politics.

Two White House officials said that the move was meant to insulate Democrats from the public backlash to the immigration moves. This is in sharp contrast to the June 30th Rose Garden speech where Obama declared that he had directed Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and Attorney General Eric Holder to give him recommendations for executive action by the end of summer and that he would “adopt those recommendations without further delay.”

My views on unilateral presidential action are well known and have little to due to the merits of these issues (Indeed, I agree with some of the President’s policies and objectives). However, what continues to amaze me is the character of modern American politics. Here you have politicians openly discussing how to avoid voter wrath by withholding action in a major area. In reality, I think some GOP leaders are doing the same thing in light of the recent defeat of Cantor and the clear success of new candidates running against the immigration proposals (while the Chamber of Congress and industry interests are pressuring for legalization as beneficial to business). I simply find it remarkable that politicians can get away with openly withholding proposals to evade a public backlash but promising that, as soon as the voters go home, they will move on the proposals. It strikes me as a tad duplicitous, but then again little makes sense to me in American politics anymore.

Source: AP

181 thoughts on ““Change You Can Count On” But Can’t Vote On? Obama To Delay Action On Immigration Until After The Elections”

  2. It’s shameful that Bush invaded a sovereign nation leaving a vacuum for terrorist to fill and which also started the dominoes falling in the ME. Good work Bush.

  6. bigfatmike phil was speaking about the muslims who want to do the same to us saw him say it how is he a bigot

    1. ” phil was speaking about the muslims who want to do the same to us saw him say it how is he a bigot”

      He has made other statements that demonstrate he is a bigot.

      I think it is a bit simple to think that the only alternatives are killing or religious conversion. And I doubt that religious conversion would do much to solve the problems of that area which seem to have much to do with power, resources and centuries of racism against brown skinned people. Finally to maintain some balance, it seems to me that there is plenty of bigotry/racism on the other side as well.

      The real question has nothing to do ‘Phil’, who is after all an entertainer. The real issue is how we get past simple solutions, racism, centuries of exploitation and resentment, and find a path to peace.

      I don’t know. But I am listening.

  7. The biggest Obama scandal in recent weeks is that he released the terrorist who started ISIS. Then he was briefed on their rise for more than a year and ignored them. Then he ignored Iraq’s pleas for help in the months before they seized power.

    He inherited a won war in Iraq and threw it all away.

    I recently watched a video where children almost dead from thirst borded a helicopter to get out. They only had room for a few. The kids seemed to recover when they were given water but it was obvious those left behind wouldn’t last long.

    A large # of kids died. Shameful.

    Of course, there’s also the scandal where the IRS lost emails from 5 more people being investigated.

    Throw it on the pile. I ‘m so tired of the deceit and contempt for the law in politicians.

  10. I live in CA, where illegal immigration is rampant. I get to see first-hand the cost of a porous border.

    This is especially visible in the construction/remodel industry. Here in CA, it is quite expensive to work in this industry- there’s the interminable & expensive permit process, work comp premiums equal 30% of your employee’s wages (that is in addition to his pay, not taken out of it), license, bond, etc. most of it is to ensure safety & training. But illegal aliens have taken over the entire industry. They can underbid anyone legitimately in business because they have no license, insurance, bond, or anything. The guy who speaks English does the bid. Homeowners typically choose bids on price, and illegals often come in at half what others have to charge to pay for all the requirements. You can go to any job site, any remodel, and find that no one speaks English and they have no license.

    It’s sad, but it’s always those who follow the law who are penalized.

  11. as the bumper sticker said “i’ll keep my bible,my gun,my money you keep the change”

  12. I find it difficult to believe the President has made this decision for the benefit of anyone other than himself. If he no longer requires the support of Congress to implement his agenda then what difference does it make how many seats he loses in the mid-terms? What is his real motive?

  14. Eric,

    “President Obama was initially elected to the White House in 2008 largely owing to the Democrats’ adoption of a brazenly false narrative about the Iraq mission –”

    You want a false narrative? A hitherto unknown “Indonesian” (i.e. removed Jakarta statue) “arrives” in America, enjoys an affirmative action college career and lands on the political stage out of obscurity (Brokaw, “We don’t know a lot about Barack Obama and the universe of his thinking … “) the son of a foreign citizen, entirely ineligible for the office as a “citizen” not a “natural born citizen,” and is elected on the margin by the “defrauded” public and illegal aliens who have been imported for the purposes of vote dilution and manipulation in stark contrast to the intent and expectations for immigration on the part of the Framers and Founders (above), only to “dither;” a deer in the headlights, ultimately exposing himself as a vacuous “empty suit” and consummate community organizer.

    There’s a narrative of comprehensive duplicity and falsity.

  15. “How ’bout Duckman’s kill er convert’em-all…”

    Well…at least our bigots know better than to kill them after they convert’em.

  16. BD,

    We California American natives do our best to send the fruits out of our state, from California to people like you. We didn’t coddle them in the state when we started out. Don’t you eat fruits from California? It appears also to be true, that the fruits in California originally came from other states like yours.

    The problem in California is that every time a measure on fruits is passed, the judicial branch “legislates from the bench” and overturns the vote on fruits. According to progressive/collectivist/liberal judges, it’s constitutional to like fruits of any genus, and unconstitutional to dislike fruits of all genus.

    Bernanke did tell us that the “Constitution has evolved.”

    How about that evolution…it appears to be involuntary,

    as long as the liberals/socialists/progressive/collectivist/democrats keep unethically and corruptly “evolving” it through dilution and manipulation of the vote and illegal, antithetical immigration and unconstitutional amnesties.

    “It strikes me as a tad duplicitous, but then again little makes sense to me in American politics anymore.”

    Res ipsa loquitur

  17. If I tell y’all that I came in on the last big immigration amnesty of the eighties……… some of you will groan: oh no! see how terrible that was!

  18. Fixing the system, mhj, is not in the interests of the Illuminati or many polititians. But if it were, a lesson could be learned from New Zealand who recently, and amazingly, fixed itself & turned itself around from a basket case, socialist, economic disaster to a relatively productive and thriving community. Time to become a traveling kiwi?!

  19. so now we are supposed to praise Obama for promising to commit an illegal act after the election rather than before it?

    How about demanding that the follow the laws now on the books and close the damn border to everyone except those who go through the proper process. Ditto becoming US citizens.

  20. Just saw a preview of new Meet The Press moderator Chuck Todd asking Obama about immigration and ISIS……The reply was “I need to get all my ducks in order”.

    It reminded me of being a project manager with a tight team. Had to do a high risk job.
    I asked, is everyone ready and you know what to do? Yep. It started at 1:00am. I came in at 1:30am. Trouble.
    One of the guys was having problems and said “my job, I know nothing, you do”. I fired him for lying to me!

    Trick question. In the video who does the dog represent and who are the ducks?

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