There are a lot of drawbacks to running for re-election when the unemployment rate hits 8.2 percent and a majority of Americans think the country is headed in the wrong direction. You get blamed for problems that are not your fault — such as high gas prices — and are at the mercy of events you cannot control. Economic turmoil in Europe or a shut-off of oil supplies from the Middle East could destabilize the economy and impair President Obama’s chances in November.
But an incumbent president also has tremendous advantages. He can use his powers to highlight issues, make appointments and enact policies in ways that no challenger can begin to match. And Obama has just provided a textbook example of how to employ those powers in the area of immigration reform.
Using his executive authority, he mandated that young people who were brought here illegally as children would no longer be deported and could apply for a new status leading to work permits, Social Security cards and driver’s licenses — but not citizenship. Anywhere from 800,000 to 1.4 million could qualify. That’s a fraction, but a visible and vocal one, of the 11 million undocumented immigrants now living in the United States.
The Republican reaction graphically demonstrated the frustrations of being the out party in an election year. The president is “playing politics,” Republicans protested. Duh. Of course he was playing politics, and playing it well. A new Bloomberg poll showed voters supporting the policy 64 percent to 30 percent, with independents backing the move by more than 2-to-1.
But the president’s prime target is Hispanic voters. Two out of three backed him in 2008, but almost 80 percent of Hispanics younger than 30 voted Democratic. Energizing young Latinos could tip the balance in critical swing states from Colorado to Florida.
The immigration issue has an added benefit to the president: It splinters the Republican Party. Hard-line conservatives immediately denounced the president’s announcement and accused him of coddling lawbreakers. Rep. Steve King of Iowa vowed to block the policy in court and fulminated, “Americans should be outraged that President Obama is planning to usurp the constitutional authority of the United States Congress and grant amnesty by edict to 1 million illegal aliens.”
More reasonable Republicans — who understand the power of the Latino vote — are horrified at that sort of rhetoric. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush recently chided his own party for adopting an “orthodoxy that doesn’t allow for disagreement” and cited immigration as a glaring example.
