Obama's desperate immigration gambit
Until now the President told Hispanics that he did not have the constitutional authority to implement the decision he announced this week . What changed ? Did he always have the authority and chose not to use it until he could cynically impact the 2012 elections ? Or , does he NOT have the authority ,and this is a cynical if not desperate attempt to hold his 2008 coaltion together ?
It should be clear from the Title of this OP that I think it's the later . He does NOT have such authority .
But what is interesting to me is the way he is trying to hold together the fringes of his coalition. His contraception gambit was an attempt to hold the woman vote. His efforts for the gay vote like chosing to not enforce DOMA ,the suspension of DADT ,his presumably agonizing evolution on his gay marriage position again reeked of desperation . Other moves include his trying to appease both labor and environmentalists on his Keystone Pipeline decision ( approve the construction of the pipeline for a section of the pipeline that is useless unless the rest of the pipeline is approved).
He won because he had the backing of the labor force ;and recent weeks have proven to them that when push comes to shove ;he doesn't have their back.
He did not go to bat for them in the Walker recall election even though he campaigned in neighboring States in the week leading up to the vote.
The AFL-CIO noticed .
AFL-CIO Pulling Funds From Obama Campaign - Washington Whispers (usnews.com)
With the erosion of support from key pillars of his coalition ,the President must create a new one... thus his temporary illegal immigrant amnesty decision . Obama's Justice Dept is also suing to stop every attempt at preventing vote fraud around the country, including the removal of known foreign nationals who have voted illegally from the voter rolls.Thus the creation of a new voting block
It is a gambit that could succeed or fail.
2004 ,facing a close recall vote ,Hugo Chavez gave citizenship to 2 million illegals living in Venezuela . That more secured him his Presidency for life . But such a move can also back fire . 2003 ,also facing a recall vote , California Governor Gray Davis issued millions of drivers licenses to illegals in an attempt to win over the Latino vote. That move angered Californians and Davis was recalled .
The question is... is the United States more like California or 3rd world Venezuela ?
There is risk in this gambit for the President. It has been pointed out that this constituency competes with labor for jobs. Perhaps that is why it is a temporary amnesty conveniently times for renewal the next election.cycle. In fact ;all his recent decisions puts stress on the competing interests within his coalition. Gay marriage vs traditional Blacks. Anti-pipeline environmentalists versus blue collar Union workers. Now young illegal aliens vs unemployed youth vote. What will the Occupiers do now that they have been thrown under the bus?
