Back in 2008, then Senator Obama campaigned on a simple promise. He would make sure to pass comprehensive immigration by the end of his first year in office. Despite holding the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives, he and his party never bothered to follow through.
Instead, Obama turned his attention to not-closing Gitmo and ramming ObamaCare down the throats of a resistant public.
Yesterday, Fox News reporter Ed Henry asked White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest about the president's failure to act on immigration when he had the chance. Why, when the Democrats had complete control of the government, did they do nothing?
The answer is simply pathetic. "The President had a lot on his plate."
If Josh Earnest is to be believed, back in 2009 and 2010 there were a lot of "crises" that required the President's attention. There was simply no time for him to work on immigration. Heck. He'd just barely managed to find enough time to play golf 50 rounds of golf by that point.
As Ed Henry points out, there are just as many - if not more - "crises" demanding the President's attention now. Yet the President currently has all sorts of time to make immigration an issue. So, what's the
real reason?
The real reason is simple. Virtually every immigration solution proposed by Democrats is deeply unpopular with the American people. Back in 2009 and early 2010 it was just dawning on Dems that they were headed into a disastrous wave election. As a result, they did nothing on immigration because they knew that the amnesty-based "solutions" they desired would certainly doom them in the midterms.
As it turned out, they were doomed anyway. Once they lost the House, they had no hope of getting what they were after, so they tucked immigration into the "Issues we can use against the GOP" file and waited. While they did, they implemented a host of policies that weakened our borders, refused to enforce various immigration laws, and actively contributed to the problems we face today. Now, they're pulling the issue out and using it as a wedge to falsely paint their opponents as racists in the hopes of shoring up their 2014 and 2016 base.
Magnify a problem, exploit the resulting crisis for political gain, refuse to solve the problem, repeat.
It's the Obama playbook in action - again.
