Immigration

He Drank Your Milkshake

When asked for a response to President Obama's recent announcement of a re-prioritization of immigration enforcement, Mitt Romney simply offered the quick and easy "I agree with Marco Rubio" line.

I opined at the time that Mitt Romney probably wasn't even sure what exactly he was agreeing or disagreeing with, but now it seems as though it doesn't matter because Marco Rubio has decided not to push Dream Act Lite.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said Monday that President Barack Obama’s move last week to block deportations for some young illegal immigrants in the U.S. has likely derailed his own similar efforts, at least until after the election.

“People are going to say to me, ‘Why are we going to need to do anything on this now. It has been dealt with. We can wait until after the election,’” Sen. Rubio said in an interview. “And it is going to be hard to argue against that.” [...]

But he blasted Mr. Obama for taking what he called “an election-year action that in the long-term is going to have negative consequences.”

Rubio also expressed dismay that the White House didn't consult him on the matter, to which I would ask "why should they?"

It's not as if the Republicans have displayed a single good-faith effort to cooperate on virtually anything over the past four years, and consulting Rubio likely would have lead to an urgent GOP mission to beat the Soviets to the moon sabotage the president's plans to stop deporting children.

The idea that the Republicans were also going to push an immigration reform plan was a centerpiece of their campaign to convince voters that they aren't the party of racists. Now it's no longer an option for them. President Obama drank their milkshake.