Dara Lind at Vox suggests that the clue we won’t have immigration reform is that GOP members aren’t guaranteeing anything on Telemundo, where they might safely make vague promises.
OK. Sure.
But more important is the language from McConnell and Boehner. From the article:
What Republicans on Congress appear to agree on, however, is that any executive action by Obama on the issue of immigration is going to “poison the well” (in Speaker Boehner’s words) for Congress to do anything about it. On Wednesday, incoming Majority Leader McConnell compared executive action on immigration to”waving a red flag in front of a bull.” If congressional Republicans plan to make an exception to their recalcitrance so that they can get a border-security bill passed, they’re certainly not mentioning it. (Bulls aren’t known for only busting through particular aisles of china shops.)
(end excerpt)
What they are doing here is setting up the conditions for inaction. Boehner and McConnell know they can’t get much through the House. The Senate passed reform and could probably pass something even with crazy assed Joni Ernst in the GOP caucus.
But the House won’t pass dick. Period. Full stop. They never will as long as the GOP controls that chamber.
So, they are creating a scenario where they will try and blame Obama for their own ineptitude. As Obama notes, they can still pass something after his executive orders. If, say, he makes it easier for DREAMers to stay or stops the deportation of the parents of minor American citizens (anchor babies!), there is nothing that can prevent Congress from passing something similar. Or they could even overturn those executive actions through laws.
But Obama understands that all that Latino voters know is that no one is taking action on immigration reform. And so they aren’t going to vote. And so we have Senator-elect Cory Gardner. If he DOES take action, and the GOP works tirelessly to overturn his actions, then the GOP will cement Latino voters into the Democratic party.
McConnell and Boehner understand this. So they are working on a procedural counter-argument.
It won’t work. And they are probably smart enough to know it won’t work. It’s more CYA than realistic counter-argument.
In the days since the election, I’ve had some interactions with the Hive Mind on Facebook. These are people who are dead sure they know the real truth (liberals are the real racists, it’s Obama’s fault there’s no budget) even though that truth flies in the face of known facts.
So McConnell and Boehner are preparing the next poutrage for Fox News viewer to ingest. They can tell themselves that Obama is the reason that immigration reform died in Congress.
Like so much else, it’s a lie. But I don’t think it’s a lie that will work.
Which GOP base wants immigration reform? Not the business community that likes the undocumented cheap labor that can’t complain. Not their perpetually scared senseless white guys and old white women. But the senseless would get on board with the newly elected Mia Love that want to deport not just the parents but the “anchor babies” as well.
If I were Obama, I would simply demand that Congress pass a bill that he can sign (and quietly stop the deportations starting now). When they send him a POS — he gets on the TV and states why it’s a POS and renews his demand for a good bill from Congress.
The business community says they want immigration reform, especially guest worker programs.
The GOP strategists understand that cutting off the Hispanic votes will lead to continued irrelevancy.
Immigration reform has broad-based support everywhere but in the Fox News constituency.
The “Fox News constituency” is like 95% of the GOP base, 50% of the IND base, and a few percent of the DEM base.
Yeah — in public they always say they want immigration reform. But all they really want is cheaper access to cheap labor which they call “guest worker programs.” And there are different needs/desires in the various business communities. Farms are different from that of poultry and meat factories and construction.
A plurality of Republicans support immigration reform in one poll.
And business leaders want stability. That’s why they want guest worker programs.