There 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
Swedes have better food and are better looking.
BEARS LOSE! Cutler = Obama. Losers w/ a swagger.
“Cutler = Obama”
Well… that explains a lot. Now we know why he runs up and down those stairs so well. And for a jock he’s not doing a half bad job of running the country either.
No, I’m a Swede.
They’ve been breaking my heart for nearly 50 years. My sister defected to the Packers once she left for school in Madison.
Bears going into OT against the lowly Bills.
Wait a minute Olly. Are you Olly like Olly and Lena jokes?? Are you Norwegian?
Wow! Olly, my daughter married into a Vikings family. I take them to Viking games @ Lambeau. They haven’t seen a victory yet!
Vikings 34 Rams 3 at the 2 minute warning. Go Vikes!
Bills 20 Bears 17 w/ 4 minutes remaining.
Aridog, Being a military man you understand protocol. Protectors of Obama are in a goal line defense. And speaking of football, raff is a big Bears fan and they have their hands full w/ a weak Bills team, Jay Cutler is much like Obama. And raff defends Cutler too. He is loyal.
I find it amusing that no one mentioned my error in naming the deceased Major General. Guess I am not the only one with reading comprehension problems, eh? The correct name was MG Greene. USAF General Myers is still alive to the best of my knowledge.
rafflaw…you are free to be amazed at what I think. If you find his appearance good enough, that’s up to you. I do not.
Olly, Amen. We have way too many duopolists here. Dem cultists protecting Dems, Rep. cultists protecting Rep. It’s as much as anything else, boring and predictable. That’s what makes JT so interesting to me, he blasts whomever deserves it, regardless of politics.
It really has gotten ridiculous. The two major parties want nothing more than the unconditional love being demonstrated by many in this blog. The defensive instincts seem almost parental and quite frankly, laughable. We can’t hold allegiance to both a political party and the republic without having at some point to choose one over the other. And it’s not difficult to determine who among us has already made the party choice.
I guess facts are a tedious thing to some people.
Aridog, Feel free to ignore tedious questions.
leej, Aridog is a stand up dude.
Aridog,
It is amazing that you consider the Secretary of Defense as a member of the military and not part of the Administration! He is a member of the Cabinet, isn’t he?
leejcarrol …. I don’t consider Secretary of Defense Hagel as an “administration representative” given that he is essentially part of the military himself. I suspect I was reading Stars & Stripe before you were born. You don’t know my background, which is mostly military. Hagel attending a general’s funeral, one killed in a combat zone no less, is de rigueur, while a political representative of the administration would have been a higher honor.
BTW…I don’t care how many stairs Obama jogs up or down. I measure him by his performance. Same thing for Bush 43, and by his 2nd term he was no better than Obama. I am not the “parrot” here. And I do not care who agrees with me or not. Show me where I bashed Obama personally on this thread, since my one comment did not suggest he should have been there personally. Just a representative of the political side of the administration. Biden would have been a nice touch.
No matter anyway. I am not part of the regular crew here and don’t plan to be either.
leej, My point is that instead of constantly campaigning a president needs to spend time administrating, making sure policies are being implemented @ least competently. This prez is a great salesman/campaigner. But all he’s got to sell is his engaging personality. That got him elected, and incredibly reelected. He’s just veneer, no substance.
We have MANY legit complaints. I’ll list a few. You’ll disagree but most people agree these are legit complaints. Obamacare. NSA. DOJ snooping on reporters. Libya. IRS. Bergdahl. Southern Border. There are more but I don’t want to run up the score. But, in spite of the utter incompetence and illegalities, this guy just acts like he’s got everything under control. What I’ve noticed of late is how even the FAR left are blasting Obama to get tougher on ISIS. Franken and for chrissake, Warren, are calling on Obama to buck up. Here’s what they know. Dems had the first opportunity since the 60’s to be seen as competent in foreign policy. Dems have been playing catch up on foreign policy for 50 years on foreign policy and Obama screwed the pooch. But, he’s still acting like he hit a grand slam when he actually just grounded into a double play. DISENGAGED. In a bubble. Dems are saying this, leej.
Finally, while we disagree, I will never have you on my “do not respond” list. You are a good natured liberal.