Dear America,
Last Friday, the leaders of Congress got together with President Obama at the White House, and once again, The President evinced the qualities that have led to the decline not just in his popularity ratings, but in the hope that we progressives had when he took office. John Boehner, who seems to me to be the most baldly brazen speaker of The House in my life time with the possible exception of Tip O'Neill, brandished his sword once again, warning the sitting president of the United States that he would rupture his relations with congress...the Republican House of Representatives specifically...if he issued executive orders to modify immigration policy so as to reduce the numbers of deportations that are presently occurring in lieu of immigration reform. Boehner's position is that executive action in that regard would be usurpation of the powers of Congress. The President's response was simply to reiterate his determination to act if congress doesn't, but part of congress has acted. The Senate, which is also divided closely between Republicans and Democrats in the 113th Congress, has passed three bills, the last one overwhelmingly bi-partisan, and sent them to the House of Representatives for passage there. But none of them has been put up for a vote by Speaker of The House Boehner. And the reason that he hasn't put any of them, especially the last, most bi-partisan one, is that he knows it would pass and President would sign it. Before the election, he believed along with many in his party, that they couldn't vote no and still win seats because congressional districts are much more conservative than the states they are in as a general rule. Thus, though many Republican Senators felt that they could vote for immigration reform because it is favored by the majority in both the nation and most states, that isn't the case district by district because of Republican "gerrymandering." In other words, the Republican Party has been hoist by its own petard because you have to be pretty damned conservative to even get nominated by the Republicans thanks to the way in which they have stacked the electoral deck on the state level, which is the effect of gerrymandering and always has been, but I digress.
As to President Obama's response to Boehner's audacious threat, The President once again put on his conciliatory face and vowed to work with Congress toward the end of immigration reform, and I don't have an objection to that effort at collegiality despite the avowed and demonstrated resistance to his efforts that Congress has displayed for the past six years. It may be just a gesture, but what else can a president do. However, with regard to Boehner, the problem isn't just partisan politics. He is out of control, and no one seems to be pointing that out. If I were President Obama, I would have said to him, if immigration reform through cooperative effort were a possibility, you would have allowed a vote on the bi-partisan bill The Senate sent you in April because as you know, it would pass. The work of devising a framework for reform has already been done, but the reality is that you don't want it...not the Republican Party, but you. Since we are pointing out consequences to each other, let me point this one out. Our constitution provides for only one office with veto power: mine. If there is someone in this room who is usurping the powers of another branch, it's you...not Harry Reid, not Mitch McConnell...you. So, if you are sincere about cooperating to reform our immigration laws, put that bill up for a vote as Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell did, because if you don't, I will go on television and point out that you are vetoing immigration...you personally; that you are exercising a veto power that you have only because of rules that you and your colleagues enacted so that you don't have to do what is democratically favored by the majority in the nation. I will explain to the people of this country that there is a regular order of business in The House of Representatives, and that you and Eric Cantor, God rest his political soul, passed a special order of business that allowed only you two to bring those Senate bills to votes, even though the regular order of business allows any member of congress to do so, and that thus, there is only one man in America who is responsible for the failure of Congress to act on immigration, and that's you. The 2014 election is over, and you and your party won, but 2016 is just around the corner, and the prospect for what you want instead of immigration reform won't last beyond that election, so make up your mind. Pass one of the senate bills before they expire at the end of the lame duck session in January or live with the consequences...and I'll make sure you do.
That's how I would have handled Boehner's bad-ass routine if I were president...with one of my own. Because when the President of the United States speaks, it has always behooved everyone in the room to listen...or at least it did until Barrack Obama was elected.
Your friend,
Mike
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