Like Hamlet pacing the stage in angst-ridden doubt, House Speaker John Boehner this week delivered the message that immigration reform is dead for 2014. It’s not that he doesn’t realize the issue is important. It’s not that he doesn’t believe our current immigration system is broken. It’s just that he’d rather suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune than take arms to end the sea of troubles brewing in the GOP.
Boehner blames President Obama for his troubles. And he has a point — up to a point. Republicans don’t trust that the president will actually enforce a new law that includes stronger border security. Indeed, the president already has shown he’s happy to ignore pesky provisions of laws with which he doesn’t agree — think not only his manipulation of Obamacare but also his decision to ignore federal drug statutes on marijuana, to name only two examples.
