We noted earlier that Boehner wasted no time in raining on Obama’s parade.
Well, it worked.
President Barack Obama defended his decision to bypass Congress and overhaul U.S. immigration policy on his own on Friday, saying he was forced to act because House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner would not let legislation come to a vote.
With many Americans skeptical of his decision to bypass Congress and impose an immigration overhaul unilaterally, Obama attempted to rally support for his move in a speech at a Las Vegas high school, saying illegal immigrants need a chance to come out of the shadows.
He engaged in a cross-country debate with Boehner, the top U.S. Republican, who accused Obama in Washington of sabotaging chances for bipartisan legislation and vowed to lead a fight to block his executive actions.
As a long-time Boehner detractor, it’s been a relief to write a couple of things praising him. It would be nice to see the Republicans take the victory handed to them by the American people and be as forceful as legally possible to slow down a president who is likely to become more unhinged as his celebrity in-chief days wind down. (Think of America as the Michael Douglas character in Fatal Attraction and President Obama as Glenn Close: HE WON’T BE IGNORED.)
In the past, Boehner has talked about common ground with the president on immigration reform. This toddler fit of Obama’s seems to have genuinely irritated him. If he remains irritated, the president’s executive exercises may not yield the results he wants.
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