Obama Has Played This Game Before
After the President delivered his big address on immigration the other day, I noted that he couldn't really have meant a single of the portentous, high-minded words he uttered. If he were truly serious about enacting immigration reform, after all, the President would hardly have introduced the topic just a couple of months before an election--or gone out of his way to insult Republicans.
Today in the Wall Street Journal, our own Bill McGurn demonstrates that Barack Obama has played this game before.
Hasn't Mr. Obama told us how [as President George W. Bush's proposal was making its way through Congress] he "reached across the aisle in the Senate to fight for comprehensive immigration reform"? Well, yes, those are his words. The back story, however, suggests another face to our president. For then-Sen. Obama also favored a series of amendments that were plainly recognized as bill-killers--spurning not only Mr. Bush and Mr. McCain but the Democratic architect of...[the immigration] compromise, Sen. Edward Kennedy....
"In 2007, Mr. Obama figured out how to get the support of Latinos (by speaking in favor of an immigration bill) while keeping the support of labor (by voting for amendments designed to ensure an immigration bill would never pass)....
"Guess what? It's still working for him."
- Comment (1)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (1)
Comments :
May '10
Re: Obama Has Played This Game Before
If I may quote The Man, from Matthew 6:24, "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other..."
At some point, President Obama is going to find himself in a situation where he can't pander to both interest groups. All his artful maneuvering over the past several years will only leave the losing party more aggravated when he's forced to choose a side.
...And it will probably be President Bush's fault.