The Obama administration will sue Arizona for the way the state enforces federal immigration laws.
For a moment I figured this was political madness — Arizona’s law is popular both within the state and nationwide – but I suspect there is a political method to this madness. If you’re the kind of person who is worried about illegal immigration and supports Arizona’s law, you’re probably already fired up about voting in November and know who you’re voting for. If you’re one of those folks, you’re probably also the kind of person who’s appalled by the health-care bill. You’re probably also angry about runaway spending, and any one of many other issues driving independents towards Republicans: economic happy talk as unemployment remains near record levels, the treatment of Israel, the proliferation of czars, worldwide apology tours, etc.
But if you’re the kind of person who is glad the Obama administration is fighting Arizona’s law, you may or may not have been all that motivated to vote in November. You probably expected a new era of hope and change to dawn on January 21, 2009, and life has been pretty disappointing in the 17 months or so since then. In New Jersey, Virginia, and Massachusetts, a lot of these folks stayed home. Obama taking on Arizona might get you a little more fired up and likely to get active.
It’s a similar dynamic with “don’t ask, don’t tell,” talk of another push for “cap and trade,” and other ideas that poll badly but are beloved by Democratic base voters.
In other words, there’s little additional harm for the administration in making moves that enrage conservatives, because the conservatives are already enraged, and no matter how enraged they get, they can only vote once. (You’re thinking, “shame there’s no ACORN on our side,” huh?) The independents are probably a lost cause. The only way to mitigate a rough year is to energize the base, and so for all extents and purposes, policy decisions for the next four months will be driven by the need to motivate disappointed liberal voters.
If that's really the strategy, it's very shortsighted. In less than 2 years, Obama has managed to move the generic congressional preference a net 19% in favor of Republicans since his inauguration. Who really thinks that this approach will help that trend?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt doesn't seem like all that long ago when "politicizing the Justice Department" was considered scandalous - even impeachable.
That we look for no motivations other than the political shows that it is simply de rigueur for the Obama administration Justice Department.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseNearly everyone, including Obama & Holder, agrees that the problem is lack of enforcement by the federal government. It strikes me that the following question becomes a huge political liability if the administration sues Arizona: "When is the federal government going to enforce laws already on the books and secure the border?"
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhen an actual voter intimidation case is ignored/dismissed by the Obama justice department, how can they justify taking on a state law which merely enforces the federal laws already on the books?
Perhaps this is the Chicago way to override that existing federal law and enact "comprehensive immigration reform" via extralegal means and the use of yet another czar.
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