In a back-and-forth at Wednesday’s White House press briefing, Press Secretary Josh Earnest was at a loss for words when asked to explain exactly how Hillary Clinton would go further than President Barack Obama on offering amnesty to the parents of DREAMers.
Earnest repeatedly insisted that Obama went as far as he could go under the confines of the law.
When asked if Clinton was “proposing to go beyond the bounds of what is legally permissible by the president,” Earnest said. “I’ll let Secretary Clinton and her campaign describe what steps they envision taking and I’ll allow them to make the case why it’s legal.”
This is all in reaction to a campaign stop Clinton made in Las Vegas Tuesday where she said, “I would do everything possible under the law to go even further (than President Obama). There are more people like many parents of DREAMers, and others with deep ties and contributions to our communities who deserve a chance to stay, and I would fight for them.”
Both Clinton and Obama are between a rock and a hard place on immigration.
Clinton must show she’s her own candidate and not a third Obama term, and Obama must defend his legacy.
If Clinton keeps promising that she can and will do more than the President, his administration must engage her and defend their choices. They can either admit she’s pandering to win votes or be thrown under the Clinton campaign bus and take a serious blow to their image of being openly supportive of illegal immigrants.
President Obama already sought to offer aid to the parents of DREAMers and was told in a 33-page memorandum by the Justice Department that he could not. And it’s not former Attorney General Eric Holder holding President Obama back; it’s the Constitution, according to the Justice Department.
The actions the President has taken — which fall far too short in Clinton’s eyes — are already a stretch.
Judge Andrew Hanen already has Obama’s immigration action on hold after 26 states sued the President. A federal appeals court also signaled last April they are unlikely to give the Obama the ability to grant some legal status to an estimated 5 million illegal immigrants.
