Perhaps the most galling line in last night’s speech:
I know some of the critics of this action call it amnesty. Well, it’s not. Amnesty is the immigration system we have today — millions of people who live here without paying their taxes or playing by the rules.
Yes, but before last night, they feared deportation. Which is the opposite of an amnesty! Obama said this in a speech right after he boasted of increasing the number of deportations of illegal immigrants for criminal offenses.
Last night Obama insisted that the previous system that attempted to deport people who enter the country illegally is “amnesty,” and letting them stay and giving them work permits isn’t amnesty.
This clearly ranks among the all-time most Orwellian statements by an American president.