In his first public appearance since the “ass-whupping” his party received on Tuesday (to use Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin’s phrase), President Obama showed that he is still in full campaign spin mode.
“What’s most important to the American people right now,” Obama said, “the resounding message not just of this election, but basically the last several is: Get stuff done. Don’t worry about the next election. Don’t worry about party affiliation. Do worry about our concerns.”
Of course, this is a rather obtuse take on what the voters said and did. They punished one specific party affiliation. And they did so precisely because the “stuff” that that party and its president have focused on “getting done” apparently does not align with, and perhaps even exacerbates, many of their concerns.
Obama also asserted that “the American people … expect us to focus on their ambitions and not ours.”
And then, with a straight face, he announced that he would go on to focus on his own ambition, not theirs — he will press ahead with a legacy-building move to loosen immigration enforcement, without seeking a vote from Congress.
Most Americans support some kind of immigration reform law, at least in principle. But Obama’s plans to impose reforms unilaterally — to legislate from the White House and make yet another end-run around Congress — actually became an issue in several of the races that Democrats lost on Tuesday.
Yet Obama saw no need this week to conciliate an electorate that is unhappy with him and his policies, nor to work with the people the voters just put in charge of a coequal branch of government. Rather, he announced that until Republicans produce an immigration bill he likes, he will simply act unilaterally.
“[W]hatever executive actions that I take will be replaced and supplanted by action by Congress,” Obama said. “You send me a bill that I can sign, and those executive actions go away.” In other words, he plans to hold the immigration issue hostage until the new Republican majority does what he wants.
Obama makes laws, and Congress then gets a chance to bargain with him for changes.
Assume, for the sake of argument, that Obama stays within some defensible legal framework (for a change) when he halts deportations or grants legal residency and work permits to large numbers of illegal immigrants without Congress authorizing it. Even if it is legal, such an action would be a huge snub to the voters.
The worst part about it is the timing. Having lacked the courage to tackle immigration before this election — or in 2009, when he had the congressional majority to do it — Obama is now doubling down because he cannot be held accountable any more. Not only is he insisting on the substance that voters rejected, he is also launching a rhetorical assault against their will.
Obama has set the tone for the lame duck era of his presidency. It’s his way or the highway.
