Obama negotiates with himself again

President Barack Obama is delaying administrative efforts on deportation — because he fears he’ll anger House Republicans and doom immigration reform.

You know, the same House Republicans who have been accusing him of abusing executive power and have vowed to kill any efforts that would would do anything more than close the border. This is absurd — another example of Obama negotiating with himself and letting the GOP dictate the terms.

As I wrote earlier on Facebook, the president has shown an unwillingness to use the power of his office and has, instead, consistently given in to Republicans and stymied efforts for even the most modest of reforms.

On immigration, his record is mixed. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals has helped, but Obama has been deporting immigrants at record levels. He can slow the pace and use the bully pulpit to change the conversation, but his efforts to date have been tepid, splitting immigrant groups along age lines and making it look like Democrats are taking Latinos for granted.

Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie. View all posts by hankkalet