Mediaboss Marketing

The Republican Party was supposed to be getting its act together for the midterm election. Instead, judging from the disarray on immigration reform, things may be getting even messier.

Im referring to House Speaker John Boehners embarrassing climb-down. After vowing for months that the House would finally take action on immigration, last week he surrendered. The bitterly divided Republican majority cannot agree on how to proceed. Apparently, this is supposed to be President Obamas fault.

If Boehner spilled gravy on his tie, hed probably blame Obama. The fact is, Obama has done everything humanly possible to make it easier for Republicans to support sensible reform.

You know a party is dysfunctional when it cant take yes for an answer. Ostensibly, the GOPs big objection was to a sweeping, comprehensive bill such as the one passed by the Senate. Last fall, the Obama administration signaled its willingness to take a piecemeal approach, if necessary, in order to move forward. So whats the problem?

Um, Obama. And the Affordable Care Act. And, I dont know, maybe Jupiter and Saturn are in astrological misalignment.

The American people, including many of my members, dont trust that the reform that were talking about will be implemented as it was intended to be, Boehner said, somehow managing to keep a straight face.

Come on, Mr. Speaker. House Republicans have made clear that they want to deal with border security before turning to the status of 11 million undocumented immigrants. You say they dont trust Obama to implement tougher border controls? Then why are they content to leave in place the current controls, which presumably are more lenient than the new ones some in the GOP would impose? If the goal is to stem illegal border crossings, wouldnt it be better to constrain the president with tougher laws rather than weaker ones, at least in theory?

In practice, this is all a bunch of nonsense. The Obama administration has been tougher than any previous administration on border security, carrying out a record number of deportations.

Boehner knows this, so he didnt focus on the border as the reason for House Republicans paralyzing lack of trust in the president. He cited the Affordable Care Act specifically, elements of the law that have been delayed or altered by executive action.

By that standard, Republicans in Congress should just take the rest of the year off. If they object to the powers vested in the presidency, its a waste of their time to even consider legislation on any subject. Instead, they should be working to amend the Constitution to make it more to their liking.

See the article here:

Robinson: On immigration, the GOP is out of step