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Obama just kneecapped Jeb Bush and Chris Christie's 2016 prospects
The Week ^ | November 21, 2014 | Jon Terbush, associate editor

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?


TOPICS: Issues
KEYWORDS: amnesty; arizona; bush; california; chrischristie; florida; jebbush; jonterbush; newjersey; newmexico; obama; randnesty; rickperry; scottwalker; texas; wisconsin
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How do you like this twenty-something millennial's depictions of you and me?
1 posted on 11/21/2014 9:30:37 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Millions of newly minted Leftist voters +

The National Popular Vote initiative =

A permanent Democrat White House.

What the hell do Jeb Bush and Chris Christie have to do with anything?


2 posted on 11/21/2014 9:35:51 AM PST by Junk Silver
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
A fence-measuring litmus test on immigration won't favor Bush and Christie

0bama accidentally does something good.

given their previous refutations of party orthodoxy.

GOP-e orthodoxy is pro-illegal-alien.

3 posted on 11/21/2014 9:39:06 AM PST by ConservingFreedom (A goverrnment strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

1. A true Bible scholar gives the book and chapter and verse of the Christian bible when quoted

2. A true Bible scholar explains why the verse has been used and how it fits in the sermon..

3. Illegal aliens are not the “strangers” the Bible refers too.

2. Obama only said “scripture and not “the Bible”

3. The Koran also instructs not to oppress strangers..


4 posted on 11/21/2014 9:39:40 AM PST by Tennessee Nana
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I reject the premise of the author.


5 posted on 11/21/2014 9:40:35 AM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist (NO COMPROMISE! NO BIPARTISANSHIP! STOP OBAMA NOW!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I don’t look at it as something that kneecaps Jeb or Christie. In fact, I believe it helps them.

There is nothing that is going to stop the amnesty that King Hussein has granted. Lots of talk but nothing will be done. And since Obama has already done the dirty work, it will be LESS OF AN ISSUE IN 2016 so it will have less of a negative impact on either candidate.

Unfortunately, this will be water under the bridge to the media in 2016.

The media sets the agenda. We’ll hear about the IRS scandal for a week and then it disappears. We’ll hear about the illegal “children” crossing the border and then that story disappears. That’s just sort of how it plays out.

The idiots that elected Obama are the ones to blame. @#%&* everyone of them.


6 posted on 11/21/2014 9:41:02 AM PST by boycott
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To: Tennessee Nana

1. A true Bible scholar gives the book and chapter and verse of the Christian bible when quoted

2. A true Bible scholar explains why the verse has been used and how it fits in the sermon..

3. Illegal aliens are not the “strangers” the Bible refers too.

2. Obama only said “scripture and not “the Bible”

3. The Koran also instructs not to oppress strangers..


It was pretty bizarre how he threw that in. That clown has never been overly concerned with that TRUE BIBLICAL scripture says.


7 posted on 11/21/2014 9:43:30 AM PST by boycott
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Little Jon Terbush is a jerk. He thinks he’s smart but is too ignorant to realize the joke’s on him. Ruining the chances for Christie and Neb in 2016 is a GOOD thing.


8 posted on 11/21/2014 9:48:19 AM PST by arasina (Communism is EVIL. So there.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I have NOT read the article ..... but just reading the headline, I have a hard time being real unhappy if Jeb & Chris are not presidential candidates.


9 posted on 11/21/2014 9:48:21 AM PST by Qiviut ( One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it provides. ~W.E. Johns)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Abbott ran with a strong border defense platform and won 44 percent of the Hispanic vote. So this is nonsense. Glad if it gets rid of Christie and Jeb Bush.


10 posted on 11/21/2014 9:53:14 AM PST by WashingtonSource
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Scott Walker, both potential 2016 candidates themselves, are gleefully threatening to sue the president for his alleged constitutional encroachment.

If I walk up to Jon Terbush an punch him in the nose in front of a dozen witnesses some of which capture the event on cellphone video, at that moment I will have allegedly committed assault on Mr. Terbush.

But the unquestioned facts will be that I have assaulted Mr. Terbush and Mr Obama will have assaulted the Constitution.

11 posted on 11/21/2014 9:58:33 AM PST by Pontiac (The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
I am sick an tired of pro-illegal pols and surrogates citing polls as a justification for amnesty.

We determine policy via ELECTIONS !

An if there was a groundswell for amnesty, then why did Eric Cantor get his ass handed to him in the primaries ?

12 posted on 11/21/2014 9:59:29 AM PST by SecondAmendment (Restoring our Republic at 9.8357x10^8 FPS)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Hmmmmm ..?? I learned that in order to quote scripture, you cannot take it out of context.

From what I can tell, Obama’s “scripture” appears to be part of Exodus and Hebrews (Amp). Both scriptures do not relate to each other and each has a different speaker and listener.

God cautioned us to “rightly divide the truth”.


13 posted on 11/21/2014 10:02:14 AM PST by CyberAnt ("The hope and changey stuff did not work, even a smidgen.")
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To: Qiviut

Amen to that! Chances are we’ve already seen the last election we’ll ever see anyway.


14 posted on 11/21/2014 10:04:48 AM PST by V K Lee
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To: Qiviut
In a similar sense that promoting Obamacare hampered Romney and caused voters to stay home in the last campaign, this move may have an unintentional benefit… POUTUS must feel that going full-bore with his agenda in the last 2 years outweighs supporting their perspective 2016 candidate (particularly if it's Hillary™ ).
15 posted on 11/21/2014 10:08:32 AM PST by mikrofon (W/E Respite BUMP)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

LOL 0bama just made it likely that we’ll pass piecemeal immigration reform - practically guaranteed it - so no “comprehensive” crap anymore. Good.

0bama is just throwing a tantrum. Let him scream. The immigration measure did nothing to help the illegals but did a LOT to ruin 0bama’s future. 0bama is doing everything out of spite. He hates us and hates that we voted against his policies. Let him scream.

His irrational behavior will just continue to minimize the number of people who will have his back. I just hope he doesn’t shoot any nukes.


16 posted on 11/21/2014 10:08:44 AM PST by Principled (Obama: Unblemished by success.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

He accuses the GOP of wild-eyed vitriol. He must be too young to remember when George W. Bush was President and how the Democrats talked about him.


17 posted on 11/21/2014 10:09:12 AM PST by Verginius Rufus
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

2012 was the Last Presidential Election ,don’t you know


18 posted on 11/21/2014 10:31:41 AM PST by molson209 (Blank)
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To: molson209

What Good Can a Handgun Do Against An Army?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-backroom/2312894/posts


19 posted on 11/21/2014 10:32:55 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet (The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
The candidate that runs on the promise to enforce immigration laws, and to repeal Obama's executive orders on Day 1 will win in a landslide. That would, in turn, provide a mandate to do exactly that.

Watch the GOPe go after such a person with everything they've got.

20 posted on 11/21/2014 10:55:05 AM PST by Defiant (How does a President reverse the actions of a dictator?)
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