Posted on 11/21/2014 9:30:37 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
On immigration, the GOP primary will have little room for nuance.
President Obama on Thursday announced his much-anticipated executive action on immigration, and in doing so he lobbed a grenade squarely into the 2016 Republican primary race.
Obama's order will reshape how the feds prioritize deportations of undocumented workers, shielding an estimated five million of them from being kicked out of the country. "We shall not oppress a stranger for we know the heart of a stranger — we were strangers once, too," Obama said, quoting scripture.
By moving ahead solo before the new Congress is sworn in, Obama ensured Republicans will finally have to address immigration reform next year — and on into 2016. This poses a unique problem for two of the GOP's biggest potential presidential candidates who have broken with the party on the issue.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush upset the rank and file earlier this year by calling for a compassionate approach to immigration. In April, he said undocumented workers who enter the country illegally do so as "an act of love" because they "are actually coming to this country to provide for their families." Then there's New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who in January broke with the national party and signed a state-level version of the DREAM Act. Like Bush, he framed his support for reform through the lens of strengthening families.
Among the general pubic, neither position is politically abhorrent. Polls have consistently found robust majorities of Americans in favor of a pathway to citizenship for undocumented workers. And Americans overwhelmingly supported the Senate's sweeping immigration bill, which incorporated elements of a proposed federal DREAM Act.
Still, both candidates may never reach the general election because their positions are anathema to Republican primary voters.
To understand this predicament, it's worth revisiting Texas Gov. Rick Perry's (R) short-lived 2012 campaign. Though Perry flopped mainly because he displayed the brains and demeanor of a limp windsock, his signature on a bill granting in-state tuition to illegal immigrants left him vulnerable on the right. In one memorable debate, Perry's opponents formed an unspoken alliance and took turns whooping him over that law. Even the humorless Mitt Romney snuck in some jabs, and Perry crumbled.
Little has changed since then. Though Republicans admitted after the 2012 election they needed to do a better job appealing to Latino voters, they saw no viable way to do so without pissing off a base that seethes at even a whiff of "amnesty." The howling last year from conservatives displeased with the Senate's bipartisan bill — a bill supported by more than 70 percent of Latino voters and a huge majority of Independents, too — was so loud it forced cowering House Republicans to stymie the measure into oblivion without even giving it a vote.
Before Thursday, immigration reform was on course to play a role in the next GOP primary. Yet with one stroke of his pen, Obama elevated it from a secondary issue to the very forefront of national debate. Christie and Bush, who already had a difficult messaging task ahead of them, must now either flip the bird to GOP voters or tie themselves in knots trying to walk back their previous positions. (Christie is already engaging in some preemptive flip-flopping, saying he has a top secret position on immigration he can't reveal unless and until he runs for president.)
Even before the president announced the specifics of his plan, Republicans were calling him a tyrant, a dictator, and a monarch. The most unhinged among them suggested responding with another government shutdown or, perhaps, impeachment. Spurred on by grassroots fury and a browbeaten GOP leadership, the wild-eyed vitriol will only deteriorate further into self-parody now that Obama has acted. Come 2016, you can easily imagine Republican presidential candidates stumbling over each other to prove who among them will build the biggest danged fence.
A fence-measuring litmus test on immigration won't favor Bush and Christie given their previous refutations of party orthodoxy. By contrast, Perry and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, both potential 2016 candidates themselves, are gleefully threatening to sue the president for his alleged constitutional encroachment.
How can Christie and Bush compete with that?
I think the passage in question is Exodus 22:21 “Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.” (KJV - other versions at https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Exodus%2022:21). Requiring strangers/travelers/sojourners/foreigners/aliens (depending on the translation) to follow the law is not the same as vexing/oppressing/wronging/mistreating/abusing/cheating/injuring/exploiting the stranger.
Obama is citing scripture for his own purpose. Shakespeare had a comment about that: http://shakespeare.mit.edu/merchant/merchant.1.3.html
Merchant of Venice, Act 1, Scene 3.
Antonio:
Mark you this, Bassanio,
The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.
An evil soul producing holy witness
Is like a villain with a smiling cheek,
A goodly apple rotten at the heart.
____________________________________________________________
I am careful not to abuse scripture, even when it seems to support my positions on an issue. I understand that it is my place to modify my views to follow God’s word. To do the reverse, modifying scripture or quoting it out of context to gain political points, would be reprehensible.
I don't believe that "that clown" even believes in God. Instead, I believe his presence at an church, beyond his Muslim upbringing in Kenya, was part of his political ambitions. It was pudent for the Chicago Community Organizer to be seen at "church" with his peeps. And it was necessary that his buddy Jeremiah Wright recognize him and elevate Obama's stature in the community.
Satan quoted Scripture to Jesus.
Not that we’ll miss Christie or Jeb Bush.
Good riddance.
The “church” Obama attended for 20 years (except for those days when rev. Wright said something Anti-white or Anti-American) is a black liberation theology “church.”
Obama has a muslim history. rev. Wright has a masters in Islamic studies so I am not sure where to put Obama. I don’t know for sure but I believe Obama leans more muslim than he does Christian. He clearly shows more affection to muslims than he does Christians. Of course he has to say he’s Christian to be in office here. We should know by now that he’ll say anything to achieve his agenda. We also know that we can judge him by his fruits instead of his words.
Simultaneously, what damages Jeb Bush and Chris Christie, removes an obstacle for Ted Cruz.
Jimmy Carter, by his feeble governance and overreaching of authority, paved the way for Ronald Reagan. And when Jimmy was defending his record in the debates in 1980 (concerning Medicare and a national health insurance program), all Reagan had to say was, “There you go again.”
And there they go again, this time on amnesty.
for polls it depends just what the questions were...
I bet the illegal aliens were called “immigrants” and “immigration” and/or “immigration reform” was used...
Most people wouldn’t want illegal aliens staying in our country but who would want to deport a IMMIGRANT ???
You are right. Now Jeb and Chris are free to play ‘more conservative than thou’ now that their odd fixation on legalizing line jumpers has been taken off the table.
Scott walker mention.
FReep mail me if you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list.
Nope. Obama just guaranteed huge amounts of money and pressure from Bush and Christie to have an R congress grant amnesty before 2016—they aren’t in congress and their hands won’t look filthy. They don’t want to have to answer: “Will you reverse Obama’s EO?”
The GOP is to busy planning how they will keep people like Cruz from ruining thier prospects in 2016 rather than what the a##clown is doing now. I beleieve the GOP come January is viewed as not doing what the people want will be much more hated than the rats are now. Enjoy the holiday turkeys when you come back to town you better be ready to fight or else the fight you have will be with the Americans not the mexicans and thier leader zippy
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.