Back in August, I interviewed a top Obama administration official who thought that Obama had won the election on the day he signed the executive order effectively implementing the DREAM Act. That might also have been the day he passed immigration reform.
Republicans hated the move. They said it made it almost impossible to imagine anything constructive coming out of Congress. ”The president’s announcement really inflamed the politics on both sides, making it harder for Sen. Rubio to find a consensus,” said Aex Conant, Rubios’ spokesman.
But that executive action is coming to play an outsized, and surprisingly constructive, role in the immigration debate. It’s emerged as a key conservative talking point — in favor of the bill.
Steven Law, president and CEO of American Crossroads, tells the Wall Street Journal’s Kimberly Strassel that Obama’s executive order proves he would “reshape the system by executive fiat, which is the last thing any conservative should want.”
On Thursday, a letter spearheaded by the American Conservative Union and signed by Grover Norquist warned, “Given President Obama’s history of executive action, simply opposing immigration reform should not be the conservative response to this problem.”
For the Obama administration, the great trick of immigration reform is somehow making it possible for Republicans to think they’re defeating the White House by signing onto legislation the White House favors. One strategy for that has been to hang back from the process and let the Senate — and, in particular, Senator Marco Rubio — take the lead.
But the executive order has, surprisingly, proven a key element, too, as it’s allowed Republicans to argue that passing a bill will actually take authority and autonomy away from the White House. It’s a reminder that in a town where working with the other side is seen as bad politics, the way to get to a compromise might not always be for everyone to play nice with each other.
