This morning, ABC's George Stephanopoulos questioned President Obama about his executive actions on illegal immigration, and challenged him on the Democrat talking point that in recent days has become their central defense- "Reagan and Bush did it too."
Stephanopoulos noted, "They were acting after the bills were passed, not because Congress did not act."
Obama responded, "I’m not sure that argues in favor. If Congress acted specifically and left something out and then a
President goes ahead right afterwards and does more than Congress agreed
to, it’s actually not different. It’s similar"
First of all, similar and equal are two different concepts. Secondly, this action is in no way equivalent to what Reagan and Bush 41 did. Third, "someone else did it" is a sorry excuse for a defense, invoked when no valid defense exists. Just because someone else did it, it doesn't mean it was right. The fact that Democrats are rallying around this talking point shows that they know the authority for Obama's actions truly does not exist. They're hoping that tying it to Reagan and Bush will somehow silence Republican opponents for fear that they might tarnish the reputation of what Democrats so often refer to as their "hero." It's a blatant political bluff, and Republicans have to call them on it at every opportunity.
Obama's actions have essentially granted amnesty to 5 million illegal immigrants, which is more than Reagan and Bush combined. Rather than acting upon a law passed by Congress, Obama is directing his administration to ignore existing law because Congress did not pass the bill he wanted them to pass. His stated reasoning amounts to "they didn't do what they were told, so I can officially do whatever I want now." That's not leadership, it's a hissie fit. Obama has neither the ability nor the longing to compromise and find solutions all can agree on. He wants it his way, and his narcissistic ego tells him that only his way will work. Leadership requires sacrifice and humility, neither of which are in Obama's arsenal. That's one of the biggest differences between Reagan, who got things done with a Democrat Congress, and Obama, who refuses to even try to work with Republicans.
When Reagan and Bush exercised executive authority on immigration, they were acting by the authority given to them by bills passed by Congress, which they each signed into law during their respective terms. Each law aimed to quell the illegal immigration issue, and each law gave the president authority to exercise discretion with implementation. For example, the 1986 bill signed into law by Ronald Reagan- which he compromised on despite the wishes of his base- gave full amnesty to 3 million illegal immigrants (the promise was "amnesty now, tough execution of laws later" and it failed miserably). They ran into problems during the implementation, because some members of immigrant families were eligible for amnesty under the 1986 law, while others were not. So in order to better implement and enforce the law in accordance with its intention (one of Obama's favorite excuses for executive actions), Reagan took executive action to keep families together. That's an argument for executive discretion that has held up in court numerous times (even for Obama). The only way Reagan's decision is "similar" to Obama's is the concept of "keeping families together" (though we know that's not Obama's true motivation ). Unfortunately for Mr. Obama, in America the ends do not justify the means, especially when the means are unconstitutional actions taken by a President.
In the case of Amnesty 2014, Obama had no law to act upon. He
created a new law out of nothing, on his own, without Congress, which is
100% unconstitutional. The president has executive authority to
implement laws. He does not have authority to create laws from nothing. That's exactly what he did Thursday night. He's not only choosing to ignore existing law, he publicly proclaimed it in a prime-time address. There's a fine line between hubris and a God complex, and on Thursday night Obama made the case that he's officially fallen so far into the latter that he's lost sight of that line. He's not doing this for families. He sees immigrants not as people, but as votes. He believes they are nothing more than serfs- servants to his will, and the will of the Democratic party. His profoundly bigoted reference to immigrants as "those who pick our fruit and make our beds" proves that beyond all doubt. Obama is doing this because he lost big in
the midterms and knows he has no hope of legally granting amnesty, which he thinks is will guarantee Democrats the White House for decades. He's doing it because he truly believes that only he knows what is
best for us, even though he has no idea who we are, or what we really want or need. He's doing this because he has no clue how to negotiate, compromise, bring both sides to the table or do anything else a true leader must do every day. He can't lead, so he does whatever he wants, while the media covers for him. If a Republican had done the same thing- with tax laws or gun laws or
what have you- completely nullifying existing law buy issuing an
executive order to ignore it, he would have been vigorously attacked by the media, vilified by Democrats across America and most likely impeached before Christmas. But since it's Obama and they think it will create 5 million new Democrat voters, he gets a pass. Yet Republicans are attacked by the media and vilified by Democrats anyway. Funny how that works...
Bottom line: Obama's use of executive action to rewrite our immigration laws is unconstitutional, and is in no way justified by the actions of his predecessors. Republicans must take every step they can and use every power at their disposal to rein in the President on this. It's not just about this President's actions on this particular issue. It's so much bigger than that. It's about the vital separation of powers upon which our Constitution is based. We cannot allow one branch of government to steal power it does not have, whether we agree with the goal or not. To much power in the executive, power like that which Obama has conjured out of thin air to exact his immigration agenda, will be the end of our republic. A president with the authority to unilaterally nullify the actions of the legislature, is not a president at all. That is a king. A dictator. A despot. A tyrant. Whatever label you choose, it's everything our founder's designed the Constitution to protect us from. It cannot be allowed. One way or another, this action must be struck down. The future of our republic depends on it.
God Bless.
