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
Phil's Tel-A-Gramm
August 24th, 2011
12:39 pm
Thirteen percent and holding, for now. There may be hope for Congress after all.
Truth Squad
August 24th, 2011
12:40 pm
I wonder where Kyle stood on Bush 43’s signing statements and selective enforcement of laws? How soon we forget those controversies?
On the other hand, I love how Republicans are busy making sure that Latinos become reliably Democratic in 2012 and beyond. Remember, African-Americans use to be reliably Republican, now, not so much. We are seeing the same political evolution with Latinos.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
August 24th, 2011
12:47 pm
Republicans welcome to the party anyone who doesn’t mind working for a living. It is true that there aren’t many parasites or moochers voting GOP.
Get on with it
August 24th, 2011
12:47 pm
Obama says that to take a person raised in this country and send them to another is not fair to the child as they dont know the language or country.
My response:
Dear President Obama.
You swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America and that number one objective is US Security and and Border Control. This child may have been brought here, BUT the parents were not. My thoughts are, go to the home of this student, take the parents and deport all of them. Dont for one minute think that a child brought here from Mexico or where ever does not speak the language because they communicate with their parents who do NOT speak English. So you point of those kids not being able to communicate is yet another lie. They communicate quite nicely. The home should be raided and parents and child sent back. The child will not be turned to a country they dont know alone. The parents (criminals) will be with them. And probably lots of their family are there to give them shelter.
I believe in immigration but I am tired of being taken advantage of and supporting what seems to be a complete country of illegals. Overall, billions of our tax money is being spent in suporting them, not only with schooling, medical, housing, medicaid, medicare and other social programs but also in security every time they go out in public and break our laws to picket. I am sick of it as well as everyone should be.
GOP LEADERS DO YOU JOB AND STOP THIS MESS. This is AMERICA, not MEXICO. Start supporting your own people by following the laws of this land. This President is over stepping his authority and we all know it.
Andrew Jackson
August 24th, 2011
12:49 pm
Congress made it’s law. Now let them enforce it.
It's the ECONOMY - PRES BO!
August 24th, 2011
12:56 pm
“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.”
Were living under a rock during the GW Bush administration? Your ilk gave him more grief than the American public has ever given Obama. The majority of American citizens (including illegals and deceased) gave Obama everything by voting him into office. The accolades Obama received by being given his Presidency on a silver platter far outweighs any grief he is getting now. The American public has given Obama the Easy Button, until now …
GWB was not able to get Amnesty for Illegals just as BHO will not get the DREAM Act. The DREAM Act is just that – a DREAM! It will not happen. Obama knows it will not happen! He is just running his mouth ad naseum in hopes something he says will stick.
President Obama needs to spend his final days in office focus on this little problem called THE ECONOMY! Screw the illegals, let them fend for themselves like the rest of Americans have had to do!
In fact, President Obama can do US all a favor and announce he will not run for office. It is the only thing that will help our country and ensure we are on a path to recovery. If he choses to go forward, he’ll face further humiliation when the American public makes him the next unemployment statistic!
Rafe Hollister
August 24th, 2011
12:58 pm
Phil
It is disgusting that the Congressional approval rating is 13%. You seem to forget that half of Congress is Democrats, in the Senate they have control. Maybe the 13% who like them are all Democratic.
Congressional approval is always abysmally low due to the fact that most of these jokers are corrupt, inept, ner do wells, who have nothing better to do with their time than pimp themselves to the special interest groups. The incumbents only are concerned with getting themselves reelected and remaining on the gravy train. Any effort to dislodge them is legislated against by the incumbents. Nice place to hang your hat if you are slimy enough to worm your way in. Solutions?
It is easier to vote out an incompetent Blamer in Chief than to deal with the problems inherent in dislodging 432 people you can not vote against.
td
August 24th, 2011
12:59 pm
Phil’s Tel-A-Gramm
August 24th, 2011
12:39 pm
Thirteen percent and holding, for now. There may be hope for Congress after all.
You do understand that the 13% approval rating is for the Dems also?
Sister Mary
August 24th, 2011
1:00 pm
Obama is the worst President in American History! May God have mercy on us all !!
Rafe Hollister
August 24th, 2011
1:02 pm
Should has said 532 people you can’t vote against.
Mocha Jones
August 24th, 2011
1:04 pm
“Remember, African-Americans use to be reliably Republican, now, not so much. We are seeing the same political evolution with Latinos.”
Remember, African-Americans? Um, you can call me Black! And NO, this is NOT the same ‘political evolution” with illegals.
Don’t speak for a Black person unless you are one. My people and many LEGAL immigrants do not support illegals. That myth you are trying to make stick it is a boldface lie.
RAMZAD
August 24th, 2011
1:06 pm
When Easter Europeans, Russians and Canadians were pouring into the US during the 19080 and 1990- legally and illegally no one was saying anything. It was ok, since they are white and right.
However, we use the Latinos to build our roads, stadiums, houses, business parks and pluck our chickens then we decide we do not like them anymore, so it is time for them to go.
The gall of these right wing lunatics makes me sick.
Obama is right- make your little racist laws and set up your little Nazi tactics to round up the little brown people who will not wear the political brown shirts, but my government is not going to deport them. Now whach ya goin do? Suckers!
Dan owens
August 24th, 2011
1:08 pm
Let’s blame all the people for what a few do because you never know when the rest are going to do it too! Blame Obama for all the problems, like they weren’t there when he got there. Sure he hasn’t done a thing to fix them but neither would any other idiot you put in office. Unless you go crazy and put in Bachmann, then it will just make matters infinitely worse. Congress is the problems and on both sides of the isle and they are pulling the wool right over your eyes. They argue and point fingers at each other in public and shake hands and make out behind closed doors. You actually believe this dog and pony show? You’re just swallowing it whole huh? Like it’s a feast, let’s eat, our team is sure to win and get it right this time! Things used to be so much better! Ha! You just didn’t know what the hell was going on then, that’s why you think it was so great. Ignorance is bliss.
Karen
August 24th, 2011
1:13 pm
Can you imagine Bachman or “Parry” as President? Instead of Arab spring we would have a USA spring and the rest of the world would see us as idiots, with cowboy boots.
Dan owens
August 24th, 2011
1:16 pm
like the Russians with Putin, so proud…but don’t know why…
meno
August 24th, 2011
1:20 pm
I guess all we have to do is find instances of the undocumented who have saved lives (lives that therefore would have been lost if the law was followed) to get Joe and Trisha to come around. It’s amazing that in their view such instances cannot exist.
Dacula 1995
August 24th, 2011
1:31 pm
I wonder if these people voted for McCain?????
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=252_1314124477
Dacula 1995
August 24th, 2011
1:32 pm
Meno…it is not “undocumented” it is called “ILLEGALS”!!
JDW
August 24th, 2011
1:32 pm
The tone of the comments here and the current sad state of partisan politics brought a question to my mind. What would Reagan do?
Better yet what did he do…
In a televised debate with Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale in 1984, Reagan said “I believe in the idea of amnesty for those who have put down roots and lived here, even though sometime back they may have entered illegally.”
in 1986, Ronald Reagan signed a sweeping immigration reform bill into law. It was originally sold as a crackdown: There would be tighter security at the Mexican border, and employers would face strict penalties for hiring undocumented workers. Any of that sound familiar? Only problem is the crackdown part was stripped from the final bill and the only thing that was left in the bill Reagan signed was this…
The bill made any immigrant who’d entered the country before 1982 eligible for amnesty.
Over time 2.9 million people took advantage of this program.
Seems to me Republicans of today would be best served by examining their “roots” and acting a bit more responsibly on the issue….
Just do what Reagan did. How could a true Republican disagree?
hatorade drinkers
August 24th, 2011
1:33 pm
someone once said the supreme court cannot enforce the laws they are passing judgement on. used that argument to seize a whole bunch on land from cherokees in north georgia, then deport them to oklahoma.
that mf was a president too. andrew jackson.
Gwinnett
August 24th, 2011
1:38 pm
“I guess all we have to do is find instances of the undocumented who have saved lives (lives that therefore would have been lost if the law was followed) to get Joe and Trisha to come around. It’s amazing that in their view such instances cannot exist.”
What about the illegal play boy that stabbed his own children to death in Lawrenceville or the instance in Lilburn where the illegal meth lady fried her children to a crisp. Fine example of illegals.
Per capita, I think you’d be hard pressed to find any illegal that has done more good than harm, or that has given back more than they have taken.
saywhat?
August 24th, 2011
1:41 pm
Enter your comments here
Rafe Hollister
August 24th, 2011
1:48 pm
Ramzad, suckers? You will get the answer to your question 6 Nov 2012.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
August 24th, 2011
1:50 pm
“Just do what Reagan did. How could a true Republican disagree?”
———
Hush. We adults are talking.
Rafe Hollister
August 24th, 2011
1:54 pm
JDW
Dems must be getting desperate, out of ideas, as they suddenly quote Reagan quite frequently.
Reagan has a big heart and wanted what was best for America. His Amnesty plan, like the road to hell, was paved with good intentions. He promised a one time, never again, Amnesty as long as congress tightened the borders and enforced the immigration laws. He was often lied to by congress and once again, he got shafted. He was gullible when the Dems made promises and shook his hand and being the cowboy he was thought that their intentions were honorable. They played him like a sucker.
He promised never again and I agree with him. No amnesty, more legal immigration is acceptable, but they need to go home and apply. How do you get them to go home, easy, $50,000 fine on any employer caught with an undocumented worker on the payroll. We simply can not afford to take in the world anymore.
Intown
August 24th, 2011
2:00 pm
It’s called Checks and Balances Mr. Wingfield. Poli Sci 101.
RAMZAD
August 24th, 2011
2:13 pm
I do not support illegal immigration. There is no basis for people to walk into the country through holes in the fence at the borders or in some shipping container. However, there is no moral imperative to deport a person who was brought here by their parents at age two years.
There is no moral imperative to deport someone who has been here for thirty years building up America. There is no moral imperative to deport someone on the verge of getting a college degree
to be used to build up America.
Right wing Taliban would hide under the rubric of the law to do the most immoral things.
America is about compassion, fairness, the pursuit of happiness, and immigration can not
be about rounding them up and locking them up.
Right wing Taliban would surely like to see all people of color deported, but the reality is
that the little brown, black and yellow people are fast becoming the majority. Y’all better
get used to that thought.
joe
August 24th, 2011
2:14 pm
All the more reason to vote his a$$ out in Nov 2012. How anyone, who thinks of him/herself as an American, can vote for him again has to have their head examined.
ATF
August 24th, 2011
2:37 pm
And what do you think Bush’s signing statements did?
Real Athens
August 24th, 2011
2:47 pm
So …
“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.”
… says the anonymous “contributer” on another person’s blog.
Real Athens
August 24th, 2011
2:54 pm
On February 1, 2010, President Obama delivered his Fiscal Year 2011 budget to the GOP lead Congress.
From an immigration standpoint, the President’s 2011 budget is designed to “strengthen border security and immigration enforcement by supporting 20,000 Border Patrol agents, adding 300 new officers at ports of entry, completing the first segment of the virtual border fence, and by enhancing and expanding immigration verification systems.”
Compared to last year’s 2010 budget, there are fewer dollars directed towards making the legal immigration process more efficient or supporting legal immigrants. In fact, from an immigration perspective, the President’s 2011 budget is dismal, focusing strictly on security and enforcement.
That budget included: $4.6 billion to support 20,000 Border Patrol agents and complete the first segment of Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) virtual border fence.
Includes $94 million for 300 new CBP Officers for passenger and cargo screening at ports of entry as well as expansion of pre-screening operations at foreign airports and land ports of entry.
More than $1.6 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement programs to expeditiously identify and remove from the United States illegal aliens who commit crimes. Included in this total is continued support for the Secure Communities program.
$137 million for enhancements and expansion of immigration related verification programs (E-Verify) at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Support for integration of new immigrants with $18 million identified to promote citizenship through education and preparation programs, replication of promising practices in integration for use by communities across the Nation, and expansion of innovative English learning tools.
Phil's Tel-A-Gramm
August 24th, 2011
3:04 pm
So, I went back and double checked my comment at 12:39 and sure enough, it was and still is non-denominational.
Kyle Wingfield
August 24th, 2011
3:09 pm
Um, Intown? The president’s balancing of Congress is the veto pen — not simply declining to enforce those laws he doesn’t like.
I challenge you to find a Poli Sci 101 text that suggests otherwise.
Obozononics
August 24th, 2011
3:23 pm
Gm,
What kind of drugs are you on? The left has done Bush demonizing for the 8 years he was in office. Not only did the compare him to Hitler, and photo shop him as the joker, they complained every time he spent a dollar. What is it about liberals they love to dish it out but cry like a baby when they have to take it. Gm, I bet you where one of those complainers, where are they now, Obozo spent more in 3 years than Bush did in 8…. Then got us into another war, but promised no boots on the ground, what a lying piece of dirt Obozo is. Better yet you losers who voted for him, did you forget he said that he would lower the deficit in his first term, someone needs to teach this loser math…So Gm, tell me one thing Obozo said he would do and he did, and not health care, it was upheld as unconstitutional.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
August 24th, 2011
3:33 pm
“[Obozo's] government is not going to deport them. Now whach ya goin do?”
———
Deport your Idiot Messiah from our White House.
Rod
August 24th, 2011
3:33 pm
Didn’t you, and or your party, just ask business people and the public to give President Obama a call to ask him to effectively back off enforcement of EPA laws and regulations to help your friends in high places? Seems a bit like selective enforcement.
It does not excuse President Obama, but you look like hypocrites, so it does not help your cause, either.
Rod
August 24th, 2011
3:35 pm
Kyle,
Just days ago you suggested the following:
1. Make some phone calls.
Not to business leaders, but to his own Cabinet secretaries.
In a recent appearance on Fox News, a former chief economist for the Labor Department, Diana Furchtgott-Roth, said Obama could “make things a lot easier on employers and on hiring” by telling the bureaucracy to stop making new rules that crimp businesses.
“He could call EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and say, ‘Why don’t we just hold off on those new ozone rules, or clean air rules, until the unemployment rate is down to 7 percent?’ ,” Furchtgott-Roth said.
“He could call his Interior secretary and say, ‘Why don’t we just allow more oil drilling in the Gulf [of Mexico]?’ Because there’s been a moratorium since the BP oil spill — that’s about a year and a half ago.
“He could tell his National Labor Relations Board acting general counsel, Lafe Solomon, ‘Hey, why don’t you just lay off Boeing?’ Because Boeing wants to open a new plant in South Carolina to build [787] Dreamliners, and [Solomon] says they can only a new plant in Washington state, where they have their existing plant.”
The list, she said, is long. “Each cabinet secretary is doing things that impede businesses from creating jobs.”
irishmafia
August 24th, 2011
3:48 pm
Jimmy Carter’s smile is getting bigger every day -he was overheard saying “thank god for that moron Obama ,he makes me look like the greatest president ever!”
ND
August 24th, 2011
3:51 pm
“A dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier, there’s no question about it.” –George Bush
I’m guessing Wingfield didn’t see that as being worthy of a blog post when it happened though.
DawgDad
August 24th, 2011
3:52 pm
RAMZAD:
Your references to “no moral imperative” and your scare tactic rhetoric (”like to see all people of color deported”) ring VERY hollow. There is moral imperative to defend our borders, our Constitution, and the rule of law. This is a fundamental responsibility of our Federal government, but the problem is people, not government. People think it’s OK to employee illegal labor for their own benefit, and they corrupt the political process. People think it’s OK to provide safe harbor for other people here illegally, and that corrupts our rule of law and our economy. People think it’s ok to take political support from the labor racketeers profiting off of illegal labor, like our current and past Presidents have done, and that corrupts our political process and Constitution. People think it’s OK for other people (taxpayers) to provide education and health care for other people here illegally, and that corrupts everything including the moral fiber of our country. Illegal immigration is a cancer growing within our nation. And why do you assume the problem is with “people of color”? Check the rolls of the SEIU some time and see what turns up.
da boss
August 24th, 2011
3:54 pm
interesting that during the day when most people are working the posts are decidedly liberal, once the workday ends and people come home from work, the posts are overwhelmingly conservative -
jconservative
August 24th, 2011
3:59 pm
Well I have read all 3 pages of comments.
A lot of folks call others names but are unable or unwilling to debate the issue. That’s OK.
Few of the commenters want to resolve the immigration issue. Most want the current policies to remain just as they are today.
Of course Obama is selectively enforcing federal law. What president has not done that? Obama makes 44 in a row. See the Washington administration. The Adams administration. The Jefferson administration.
The problem is that Congress allows the practice to continue. The President & VP are the only nationally elected federal officials. Everyone else represents a district or a State. Intimidation?
who has the checkbook?
August 24th, 2011
4:03 pm
so our nation is beyond broke but somehow this administration managed to spend almost a billion dollars (so far) on Libya, this week gave North Korea almost a billion dollars in “aid”,and in the past two years have approved $7.5 billion dollars in “aid” to Pakistan. Wonder how the tornado victims in the USa feel about that? or perhaps the flood victims in the Midwest USA? I’m sure the afore mentioned $9 billion dollars in aid is peanuts compared to what the administration has given to it’s own citizens —sure it is!
Darwin
August 24th, 2011
4:07 pm
Did Bush and Cheney use a UN resolution from the first Gulf war to invade Iraq? They tried to get the UN to approve of the 2nd invasion for WMDs and when they wouldn’t pass a resolution for it, Bush and Cheney said “oh well, we’re going to invade anyway.” They used the first UN resolution to justify their invasion. So you see, Kyle, you’re selective in your criticism.
your government at work
August 24th, 2011
4:12 pm
(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named Representative Edward Markey (D-Mass.) its July 2011 Porker of the Month for accusing proponents of federal spending cuts of indifference toward potential victims of weather emergencies. On July 19, 2011, Rep. Markey issued a press release in which he accused House Republicans of “foolishly cutting funding for our nation’s weather and climate forecasters.” According to Rep. Markey, reducing expenditures for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – which contains the National Weather Service (NWS) – “won’t change the climate or end a heat wave, but … will lengthen the time it takes to alert our citizens about an incoming storm, or reduce our ability to give our nation’s farmers the information they need to manage their crops.” Rep. Markey added, “When a tornado or other deadly weather event is bearing down on you, minutes matter. Yet these kinds of vital capabilities don’t seem to matter to House Republicans.”
Contrary to Rep. Markey’s accusations, spending at the NOAA is greater than ever, and dramatically higher than it was just a few years ago. Its budget is slated to reach $5.5 billion in fiscal year 2012, an increase of 46 percent since 2002. And private organizations have been performing many of the functions of NOAA and NWS for decades. AccuWeather, founded in 1962, hosts more meteorologists at its headquarters than any other location in the world, and the Weather Channel, founded in 1981, provides storm tracking and forecasts for 98,000 locations around the globe. Both companies disseminate vital weather information on the Internet, television, and radio 24 hours a day.
Rafe Hollister
August 24th, 2011
4:15 pm
jconservative
Ok, I’ll take the bait, what law did Geo Washington not enforce?
I want to solve the problem once and for all. $50,000 fine for anyone caught employing an undocumented, illegal alien, require schools not to admit any student without proof of citizenship, build the fence, double the budget of Border Patrol and INS. Problem solved.
using your tax dollars wisely once again
August 24th, 2011
4:16 pm
kinda like we “must pass the bill to see whats in it” We must spend taxpayer money on non taxpayers so we can generate tax revenue
(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack its August 2011 Porker of the Month for asserting that the Department of Agriculture’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, qualifies as economic stimulus drives economic growth. In an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on August 16, 2011, Sec. Vilsack called SNAP “an economic stimulus,” explaining that “every dollar of SNAP benefits generates $1.84 in the economy in terms of economic activity.” Sec. Vilsack did not specify where he got such a precise estimate for the multiplier effects of SNAP
JV
August 24th, 2011
4:16 pm
According to a 2010 cost study by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the estimated annual total of the costs related to illegal immigration that taxpayers must bear on the federal, state and local levels in $113 BILLION. Of that, $84 BILLION at state and local levels. This breaks down to approximately $1,000 per tax-paying American household. An average 27 percent of this dollar figure has to do with the administration of justice, while 16 percent are public assistance expenditures. Twenty-one percent go to medical care and an estimated seven percent support education.
Liberals hate facts!
August 24th, 2011
4:20 pm
@ Darwin
The Iraq Resolution or the Iraq War Resolution (formally the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002,[1] Pub.L. 107-243, 116 Stat. 1498, enacted October 16, 2002, H.J.Res. 114) is a joint resolution passed by the United States Congress in October 2002 as Public Law No: 107-243, authorizing military action against Iraq
MarkV
August 24th, 2011
4:27 pm
Liberals hate facts! @4:20 pm: I am sure Darwin will remind you that he wrote about a UN resolution.