As President Obama readies himself to issue an executive order on immigration by the end of the year, Republicans ready themselves to put up a hard fight to against it, naturally.
“Before the end of the year, we’re going to take whatever lawful actions that I can take,” said Obama Wednesday night. Of course Obama’s poise to act executively, and legally, on immigration reform has the newest surge of Republicans on the Hill up-in-arms. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said his party will fight against the president on such an action.
In a rare showing of Democratic backbone, Obama doesn’t seem like he’s going to back down from the GOP, as far as immigration is concerned. This is probably in response to the Republican obstructionism of the last two years.
“I think it’s fair to say that I’ve shown a lot of patience and tried to work on a bipartisan basis as much as possible and will keep doing so,” said Obama. “I’ve consistently said that it is my profound preference and interest to see Congress act on a comprehensive immigration reform bill. What we can’t do is just keep on waiting. There’s a cost for waiting.”
However, before Obama delivered his speech on the issue, McConnell held a press conference announcing the Republicans stance.
“I think the president choosing to do a lot of things unilaterally on immigration would be a big mistake,” said McConnell. “It’s an issue that most of my members want to address legislatively and it’s like waving a red flag in front of a bull to say, ‘If you guys don’t do what I want, I’m going to do it on my own.’ . . . I hope he won’t do that because I do think it poisons the well for the opportunity to address a very important domestic issue.”
Other than McConnell’s sniveling, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) noted that he’s been “literally pleading” with President Obama about the executive order.
“I literally am pleading with the president of the United States not to act,” said McCain. “Give it a chance. We’ve got a new mandate. Let’s let the House of Representatives decide if they want to move forward on immigration reform or not.”
Okay, so now that the Republicans have control of Congress they want to play nice and act legislatively? That kind of cooperation was virtually nonexistent one year ago when they shut down the government. Take hypocrisy away from the GOP, and they would be unrecognizable.
