Hot Air calls this quote from Peter Baker of the New York Times about the legitimacy of President Obama’s apparently forthcoming action on immigration “too perfect for words:”
Actually, the debate is between President Obama and President Obama. A couple of years ago President Obama actually had to deflect pressure from immigration activists and from his left and said, I don’t have the power to do what you guys want me to do. And now he’s coming around two or three years later, he’s got fresh legal opinions from the Justice Department saying, actually I do have the power to do it. They’re going to go forward. I think at this point, within the White House, there is a consensus that he does have this power. And he’s gonna go ahead. Probably as early as this week.
Hot Air gives the rundown of now-familiar quotes from President Obama on how he lacked the legal authority to do what he will likely do this week or else quite soon. In the earlier quotes, he was speaking to activists who demanded unilateral action on illegals. He wasn't ready.
Why was President Obama saying at one point that he lacked the authority he now claims? I think it is simple: he says whatever serves the purpose at the time. We seem to be learning every day how deep this trait goes with regard to ObamaCare. Now he is ready to take action (likely illegal) on illegal immigration. He does what he wants to do when he thinks he can get by doing it. If some lawyer in the White House can come up with a talking point, great. But it’s hardly essential. This president is unrestricted by the U.S. Constitution.
Conservatives disagree over immigration, but we can all agree that the executive doesn’t have monarchical powers under the Constitution.
I want to mention a particular man who recently came to the United States. Thomas Duncan, the Nigerian man who died in Texas from Ebola, was not an illegal immigrant. But he did tell a lie (that he had not been exposed to Ebola) to get into the U.S. And now, after his death in a Dallas hospital, his family has reached a financial settlement with the hospital.
It seems to me that this sends the wrong message about coming to America. Coming to the U.S. should be an investment in the future–but not quite in this way.
It is tragic that the hospital didn’t immediately recognize the nature of Mr. Duncan’s complaint and save him. Our hearts go out to Mr. Duncan, who struggled with a terrible disease.
Nevertheless, I can’t help thinking that perhaps it is the U.S. that should have gotten a settlement—or at least an apology.