Politics
Trolling The GOP
This March 26, 2014 file photo shows House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio speaking during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
(Politico) – When the Obama administration last week began the process of preparing the media and the public about the president’s plan to unilaterally suspend deportation for millions of illegal immigrants, it did not go to a Latino outlet like Univision. It did not communicate to the liberal base via the Huffington Post or even old standbys like the New York Times and the Washington Post. The “exclusive” went to Fox News.
The reaction on Fox was what you would expect: pure outrage. Charles Krauthammer slammed the plan that day as an “impeachable offense,” and the following night he compared President Barack Obama to a Venezuelan “caudillo.” Bill O’Reilly accused Obama of wanting to “tear the country apart politically” and, the following night, of “subverting the Constitution and law.” Fox personalities quickly began musing about possible retaliatory measures like blocking all presidential nominees and defunding the entire Justice Department.
And now, we hear, the president plans to announce his decision Thursday, despite pleas even from Senate Democrats who would like him to wait until they can pass an omnibus spending bill and avert any shutdown threat. If he wanted to, of course, the president could minimize the risk of a disruption in government funding by simply waiting until the Dec. 11 deadline for the expiration of the latest spending bill. Obama is under pressure to make the move sooner from Hispanic lobbies and others who are angry with him for delaying until after the midterms. But it is very possible that the president has another motive as well: blowing up the GOP.
