Obama’s Game of Chicken through his Amnesty Power Play

When you have no shame, then there is no limit to the extent you will go to satisfy your own needs and interests. Thus is the state of affairs with President Obama, striking at every demographic possible for his reelection.

The latest example came through the announcement of Obama’s executive fiat on June 15 that he is effectively granting amnesty for all young illegal immigrants.

The policy applies to people under 30 years old who came to the United States when they were 16 years old or younger and have not committed a crime or have served in the U.S. military. How arbitrary are those parameters? Why not 32 years old and 17 years or younger?

While there is proper outrage about the policy itself, considering that we have immigration laws for a reason and this is a complete cop-out for the Campaigner-in Chief, the greater reaction appropriately comes from the method of applying this policy. Though Obama has proved himself shameless in the past, this is an unconstitutional power grab of the highest order.

Just like the gay marriage issue and the segment of the electorate that issue connects to, Obama is leading Romney in polls of voters of Central and South American descent. So that makes one wonder, why Obama would again take a controversial position to appeal to a segment of the electorate where the outcome is certain?

The answer in this case is twofold. First, Obama’s team wants to widen his margin with core segments of his base of supporters because he knows he is going to need every percentage point. While that may seem to run the risk of alienating some independent voters, it is a calculated one that assumes most people will be sympathetic to young illegal immigrants who had no say in their illegal entry into the US.

This brings us to the second and main reason for this strategy. This executive fiat represents a high stakes game of chicken, since Obama perceives Mitt Romney to be weak on immigration to begin with.

During the campaign for the GOP nomination, Romney used immigration as an area that he could stake out a hardline conservative position that was even to the right of Newt Gingrich, where he favors most deportations of illegal immigrants. By issuing the amnesty order, Obama is trying to further expose Romney’s apostasy against Hispanics.

At the same time the amnesty fiat was being planned, the Obama Department of Justice was going to federal court to sue the State of Florida for purging voter rolls of people who are dead and illegal. So this game of chicken is designed to further expose Romney for his immigration stance (for his part Romney did not fall for it: Romney accuses Obama of political motivation on immigration), while also working across the country to prevent states from purging people from voter rolls who are not eligible to vote (see The Necessary Purge – The 1993 National Voter Registration Act requires Florida’s action).

Shameless? Yes. Wise political strategy? No – desperate, but not wise.

At this point of an election, the base for an incumbent should already be secured. Remember the candidate who was going to carry us to an era of post-partisan politics? It looks like he is now the candidate playing an artful game of chicken which makes a mockery of the constitution’s system of checks and balances, and has set himself up for yet another court challenge regarding the constitutionality of his actions.

Photo credit: www.jillstanek.com