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President Obama’s taunts of unilateral action on immigration have worked as chaos and disunity are ripping through Republicans before they take the majority in Congress.
The New York Times reported that the president’s strategy is already paying off,
But Mr. Obama, in insisting that he will take unilateral action to overhaul the nation’s immigration system, has delivered to his adversaries a compelling political target they may not be able to resist. On a trip to Asia this week, Mr. Obama effectively said “I told you so” to Republicans, saying he gave them every opportunity to avoid the action he is preparing to take.
The taunt by Mr. Obama seems to have worked. A day after routing Democrats in the midterm elections this month, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who will become majority leader in January, tried to immediately pre-empt any talk of a government shutdown. Now, a week later, some members of Mr. McConnell’s party are already talking about doing just that.
The calls for House Republicans to shut down the government in December are growing louder by the hour. Beyond the division over a government shutdown, the years long rift within the Republican Party over impeachment is also moving front and center.
Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) put impeachment on the table in a recent interview, but Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) told Fox News that impeachment was not happening, “No, and nobody’s discussing impeachment, but pundits and commentators. First of all impeachment is a punishment, not a remedy. Second of all, the only people who want us to talk about impeachment are the president’s allies.”
President Obama knew that the results of a what was an essentially red state senate election were papering over the same divides and internal conflicts within the Republican Party that have existed for years. Instead of taking the president’s intention to act alone seriously and scheduling a House vote on the Senate passed immigration bill, Republicans are falling apart and defaulting back to their standard behavior of fighting among themselves while blaming the president.
The calls to shut down the government are going to be difficult for House Republicans to resist. Their supporters want a government shutdown. Red state Republicans have also been dreaming of impeachment since the president first took office. Obama is now in a position where he doesn’t have to navigate between the Republican House majority and the Democratic Senate majority. The advantage of the new political environment is that he has more freedom to maneuver.
The president has placed the Republicans in a no-win position. Either they shut down the government, and start their new Congress off in chaos or they back down immigration and begin the new Congress in defeat.
Barack Obama is the puppeteer who can make the Republicans jump on command with a simple tug of the string.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
