Obama: Heads Congress does what I want, tails I do it anyway
Over at Human Events, Jim Hoft had the same reaction I did to the Obama administration’s announcement Friday that it will only selectively enforce our immigration laws.
That is, Hoft remembered all the way back to…when was it? Oh yes: a whole 25 days earlier, when President Obama said this to La Raza activists:
THE PRESIDENT: Now, I swore an oath to uphold the laws on the books, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know very well the real pain and heartbreak that deportations cause. I share your concerns and I understand them. And I promise you, we are responding to your concerns and working every day to make sure we are enforcing flawed laws in the most humane and best possible way. Now, I know some people want me to bypass Congress and change the laws on my own. (Applause.) And believe me, right now dealing with Congress –
AUDIENCE: Yes, you can! Yes, you can! Yes, you can! Yes, you can! Yes, you can!
THE PRESIDENT: Believe me — believe me, the idea of doing things on my own is very tempting.
(Laughter.)
I promise you. Not just on immigration reform.
(Laughter.)
But that’s not how — that’s not how our system works.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Change it!
When the president of the United States says, “I swore an oath to uphold the laws,” he’s not supposed to follow it with a “but.”
But apparently that’s how our system works now.
Last year, Obama and the Democrats tried to pass the DREAM Act, which would accomplish some of the same goals as the administration’s new flouting of immigration law. There are some reasonable arguments on the side of the law’s proponents — just as there are some reasonable arguments on the side of its opponents who point out the obvious: that creating a great big new incentive to skirt our legal immigration avenue, without any better enforcement of the border and other immigration law, is only going to worsen illegal immigration and its associated problems.
But as is this administration’s wont, when “our system” didn’t deliver the desired results, the solution was to give in to “temptation” and take matters into its own hands. And that should be considered wholly unreasonable, whichever side of the DREAM Act debate you land on.
So, now we know there’s a broader reason for Obama to complain nonstop about the difficulty of working with Congress. It’s not just an excuse for his sagging approval ratings. It’s a rationale for circumventing Congress and doing whatever he likes.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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241 comments Add your comment
Kyle Wingfield
August 24th, 2011
10:58 am
MarkV: And I didn’t comment on it at the time of the speech, because at that time it was just words. Now it’s been put into actions.
Name (required)
August 24th, 2011
10:58 am
I think you have some “getting over” to do yourself. Look into it.
Phil's Tel-A-Gramm
August 24th, 2011
10:59 am
Kyle,
Precisely, what is Obama doing now that has not been done before that has your panties in such a wad.
USMC
August 24th, 2011
10:59 am
I say we DEPORT Phil’s Tel-A-Gramm. for being a MORON!
Oh yeah, there is no law against being a moron. Come to think of it, I guess it doesn’t matter what the law says anyway, right Phil?
MarkV
August 24th, 2011
11:03 am
Kyle,
Now you are trying to weasel out of what you did, and what I commented upon. You wrote: “When the president of the United States says, “I swore an oath to uphold the laws,” he’s not supposed to follow it with a “but.” A standalone statement, not conditioned on any action.
Stonethrower
August 24th, 2011
11:03 am
Wet back? Trisha that was really original. Take the sheet off please.
Phil's Tel-A-Gramm
August 24th, 2011
11:04 am
That USMC is such the educated one. His demonstrated ability to call other bloggers names should even get him special kudos with Kyle especially now that he has shown an ability to use multi-syllable words.
Cosby
August 24th, 2011
11:05 am
Lets see, between the NLRB telling Boeing where or where not to expand to the EPA telling farmers what or how to use fertilizers, the Holder trying terrorist in criminal courts to ignoring the Black Panthers standing armed in a voting place….why not dismiss congress as we do not need them any more…it is all left up to the annointed one…Barry Soetoro
Phil's Tel-A-Gramm
August 24th, 2011
11:08 am
What does the law say about Congress selectively funding the laws of the land.
ragnar danneskjold
August 24th, 2011
11:09 am
The community organizer in chief votes “present” again. Makes Carter look like a strong and intelligent president by comparison.
Jefferson
August 24th, 2011
11:13 am
If there’s no money to spend, there will be more and more services lost and laws left unenforced. You get what you pay for, or don’t pay for.
The Three Degrees
August 24th, 2011
11:14 am
That USMC is such the educated one.
Is this where you’re going to tell us about those degrees on the wall from Georgia Tech, like usual?
Halftrack
August 24th, 2011
11:16 am
In the oath of office for President, he is to secure our borders. Yet, the DOJ, initiates a “Fast & Furious” scheme to blame illegal gun use on the Mexican Drug Cartels to stifle 2nd Amendment rights and to enhance illegal immigrants in the USA. All we know and see from Obummer is as the Am. Indian used to say is that he speaks with a forked tongue. He will charm you then bite you with a poisionous venom of the direct opposite of the so called charm. Very consistent at this.
Pete
August 24th, 2011
11:19 am
The DREAM Act is fair and humane. If you think otherwise, you have no heart, compassion, or kindness.
Phil's Tel-A-Gramm
August 24th, 2011
11:19 am
Is this where you’re going to tell us about those degrees on the wall from Georgia Tech, like usual?
If I were to say such a thing, it would be a lie. So, no. I will not be telling you or anyone else that. I do hope you are not too disappointed.
Gringo Viejo
August 24th, 2011
11:21 am
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
What happened to the United States? What is wrong with us? What is different about English, Irish, Italian immigrants and Latin Americans?
Phil's Tel-A-Gramm
August 24th, 2011
11:23 am
Come on, Kyle. Tell us all about how Obama is supposed to raise your taxes in order to cover Georgia’s need to deport those two teenagers. How about we get those Republican women of Cherokee County to take up a donation to deport them instead. We could even pass a law to make it tax deductible.
TrishaDishaWarEagle
August 24th, 2011
11:24 am
@stonethrower..other people’s feelings have never been something I care or think about. If I offended you, so be it. What would you call them? That is what the US government called them..which might be the only reason I would stop calling them that..as I hate government.
I am not PC..I am not even polite, and I definitely would never wear a sheet..I want my enemies to look into my eyes and see the depths of my hatred for them.
P-Tag, as you must be soooo educated, can you do me a favor..
name the 7 basic properties of a fourier transform and provide a proof describe\ing the distribution of heat in a given region over time for a function u(x,y,z,t) of three spatial variables (x,y,z) and the time variable t.
Anti_lib
August 24th, 2011
11:26 am
He’s an arrogant failure and I can’t for the life of me understand how anyone in their right mind can support this moron!
Paulo 977
August 24th, 2011
11:28 am
Richard
August 24th, 2011
9:10 am
“Just for clarification, when Bush sidestepped Congress, we were all angry then too.”
This gift of ’selective memory’ that we possess is great isn’t it?
Jack
August 24th, 2011
11:29 am
I was wondering what caused my psoriasis. Thanks for the info.
Mountain Man
August 24th, 2011
11:31 am
So the selective enforcement of laws prohibiting businesses from hiring illegal immigrants (which has been the norm fo the past 30 years) doesn’t bother you at all? Where were you, Kyle, when your congressman stopped immigration raids in South Georgia to keep the farmers supplied with their illegal labor? Sounds like selective enforcement there.
TrishaDishaWarEagle
August 24th, 2011
11:34 am
@p-tag
If Math is not your bag, maybe you can just write a little explaination of Heidegger’s hermeneutic circle.
Atticus Finch
August 24th, 2011
11:35 am
Wow, TrishaDishaWarEagle what a spewing fountain of hate you are.
Kyle, can you please call some of these people out on the racial slurs?
Mountain Man
August 24th, 2011
11:35 am
And I like the idea that some have on this blog: let’s institute a deportation tax, a special 2% income surtax that will fund as many deportations as can be accomplished with that money, and it will go away after all illegals are deported.
We should also have had an Iraq war surtax, an Afganistan war surtax, and definitely a Medicare Part D surtax. Then the American people could see and decide if these things are important enough to pay for.
williebkind
August 24th, 2011
11:40 am
Pete
August 24th, 2011
11:19 am
“The DREAM Act is fair and humane. If you think otherwise, you have no heart, compassion, or kindness.”
No I do not! I am heartless about those who come to our country and break the laws, I am compassionate about the security and welfare of our nation, and I have been kind and generous waiting for our leaders to do their jobs. Now my compassion is gone.
williebkind
August 24th, 2011
11:41 am
How about a gay tax?
Mountain Man
August 24th, 2011
11:42 am
I am also still waiting to hear Governor Deal say, ” I am sworn to uphold ALL of Georgia’s laws, so we will be starting a crackdown on motorists exceeding the 55-mph speed limit on I-75, I85, and I-285″. Selective enforcement. The same with Georgia’s prohibition on oral sex (even between married adults).
TrishaDishaWarEagle
August 24th, 2011
11:43 am
@mountain man
Yes I was disgusted by that. I am not a republican..when republicans act like liberals I attack them with even more hatred and zeal than a lib because they are traitors to the cause. After one rather repugnant op-ed by apparently the only cop in Uvalda, GA, I decided to boycott vidalia onions and I may well raid and loot the town while Barney Fife is asleep, since he said he leaves the town utterly defenseless anytime he has to transport a illegal to the lockup 25 miles away (per the op-ed). In the words of Calvera, “If God didn’t want them sheared, he would not have made them sheep”
williebkind
August 24th, 2011
11:45 am
Somehow I knew Mountain man was going to bring up oral sex for men!
TrishaDishaWarEagle
August 24th, 2011
11:45 am
and Atticus..wop is not a slur it means ” without papers”..the original illegals
Mountain Man
August 24th, 2011
11:47 am
For clarification purposes, I am AGAINST illegal immigration. I just think the easiest and best way to discourage illegal immigrants is to deny them jobs by REQUIRING (at a federal level) the use of e-verify. Because I also believe there are some jobs that Americans WILL NOT DO, I support immigration reform to allow more legal immigration.
Phil's Tel-A-Gramm
August 24th, 2011
11:47 am
Kyle,
Should we raise taxes just on the folks in the counties that arrest the illegals or go beyond that point.
Trish,
I noticed you failed to submit your latest homework assignment, AGAIN. Here it is AGAIN. It’s past due so don’t expect a passing grade.
Joe Mama
August 24th, 2011
11:49 am
Trisha — “I swear I am to the point I would watch a liberal choke to death and die in a restaurant or on the street rather than lift one finger to render aid…just grinning watching them expire.”
We’ll know they’re Christians by their love.
laurie
August 24th, 2011
11:54 am
How about if Georgia makes being in this country illegally a felony? That way all the illegal immigrants would be considered criminals under the law (like they weren’t already), and thus deportable.
TrishaDishaWarEagle
August 24th, 2011
11:54 am
@willie, we sorta have a gay tax already..it’s a lentivirus in the retroviridae family
Its all BUSHS FAULT
August 24th, 2011
11:55 am
Het Trish Trash and minkey wrench if your villiage idit W had not scewed things up so bad maybe Mr.OBAMA would have lost to the orginal Maverick. LOL…OBAMAS your dadi 2012 baby.
jarvis
August 24th, 2011
11:58 am
I know the heartbreak a felon’s family must feel when said felon is sent to prison, but that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t go to prison. Right?
Kyle Wingfield
August 24th, 2011
12:01 pm
Trisha: Your comments are going to be put through moderation before they appear here from now on.
TrishaDishaWarEagle
August 24th, 2011
12:01 pm
@Joe (then I’m off to make some cash)
I am not christian. Christianity promotes weakness and submission.
I am a darwinian. I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes; “The law of selection justifies this incessant struggle, by allowing the survival of the fittest. Christianity is a rebellion against natural law, a protest against nature. Taken to its logical extreme, Christianity would mean the systematic cultivation of the human failure.”
Trisha, Trisha, über alles
Real Athens
August 24th, 2011
12:02 pm
Immigration and Customs Enforcement statistics show that deportations have increased dramatically from 189,000 in 2001 to 387,000 in 2009. Much of the increase results from deportations of people who haven’t committed serious crimes, according to Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.
This year, however, that trend took a sharp turn, according to an Aug. 12 TRAC report.
The number of criminal immigrants removed by ICE “climbed to an all-time high,” the report said. In fiscal 2010, which began Oct. 1, “The removal pace of criminal aliens … is fully 60% higher than in the last year of the Bush administration, and at least a third (37%) higher than in the first year of the Obama administration.”
Joe Mama
August 24th, 2011
12:13 pm
Trisha — “@Joe (then I’m off to make some cash)”
Well, I certainly hope you don’t encounter any hurt or dying people while you’re doing that. They might bleed on your shoes or something.
Gringo Viejo
August 24th, 2011
12:16 pm
Trisha, I see your response only alluded to those non- aryan wops, telling, ain’t it? By the way, I’m Scots-Irish, my family has been in Georgia since 1720. Of course when our grandparents came, all they had to do to do so legally was show up at Ellis Is. and not have T.B.. But, wouldn’t the sick “wop” or “wetback” fall under the tired, poor, wretched refuse? The great majority of the undocumented are a lot healthier than a lot of our lazy, xbox playing, junk eating youth. Most of them came here to feed their kids, and have risked life and savings to do our menial work,(which we will not do) only to have some hope of bettering their families outlook. I respect people who are willing to work, and risk their life and liberty for their families.
JDW
August 24th, 2011
12:18 pm
Thank you Kyle!
ILLEGALMEANSILLEGAL
August 24th, 2011
12:22 pm
Whoever is for the president selectively enforcing laws frightens me. We have an entire system with a process in place which decided it was illegal to come here without obtaining certain documents. How can anyone argue that if you break the law, it’s ok? I guess the cop should let me out of a speeding ticket but that doesn’t happen. Why are people for illegal immigrants being here? If you took away all of the illegal immigrants, the jobless rates might look a lot better. But who cares about that as long as someone braking the law daily can continue to break the law? What kind of country is this????
Gm
August 24th, 2011
12:22 pm
My God, dump all American problems for the last 25 years on President Obama, when will you people ever stop, Obama must have thick skin to want to run for President again when he have a bunch of Anti Americans who dont respect the President decsions or no matter what he does it is never good or enough.
These same hypocrites gave bush the respect no matter how wrong he was on every issue, once again this shows you what type of idiots running around in America.
a dad
August 24th, 2011
12:25 pm
If the federal gov’t is not going to enforce the laws on the books, then it should fall to the states to do so. Wondering why AZ, GA, etc. enacted those immigration reform laws? Bayy boy just laid it all to rest. Guess I’d be naive to hope that some federal judge somewhere would have the stones to say that if the president isn’t going to uphold and enforce the laws that the states must.
mountain man
August 24th, 2011
12:25 pm
BTW, I did not say anything about oral sex for MEN.
mountain man
August 24th, 2011
12:27 pm
If the Republicans really wanted to hold Obama’s feet to the fire, they should fund ICE to the point that they have plenty of money for deportations and then see if the deportations happen. There would not be an excuse, then.
Rafe Hollister
August 24th, 2011
12:31 pm
Lynch mobs used Obama’s logic as well, that the laws are burdensome or not fair or not swiftly carried out.
Anyway 38% and falling every day.