Both Parties Bracing for Obama Immigration Move

Some see potential for a Machiavellian turn of events. WASHINGTON D.C. (Texas Insider Report) Both political parties are in a state of high anxiety about the possibility that President Obama will allow millions of illegal immigrants to remain in the country fearing that White House action on the issue could change the course of Novembers mid-term elections. In the past few days Democratic candidates in nearly every closely fought Senate race have criticized the idea of aggressive action by Obama. ... Senior Republicans meanwhile have their own worries about a September surprise on immigration. They know their volatile partys tendency to erupt at such moments including government shutdowns and impeachment threats and that the GOP brand is even more tattered than the Democratic one.

 The Washington Post    

A cynic would say this is a trap carefully laid by the White House" said Vin Weber a well-connected Republican former congressman from Minnesota. David Winston a longtime pollster for House Republicans said:

By doing something like this the president would incite some Republican members hoping to change the story line. But whether it changes the story depends on the discipline of the Republican side to make sure that disagreements that exist within the conference do not overwhelm what the conference is trying to achieve overall."

The two impulses that Republican leaders are eager to tamp down are calls for Obamas impeachment or another government shutdown. Rep. Steve King (Iowa) a hard-line tea party conservative said a shutdown is possible. He has accrued growing influence on the immigration issue this summer helping to shape the House GOP border security legislation that passed in early August. King said in an interview that if Obama does move forward with an executive action many House Republicans will be unwilling to extend funding for the government that is set to expire at the end of September. I dont see how we could reach agreement if he takes that posture" King said. It would throw us into a constitutional crisis."

• Read the full Washington Post article by Karen Tumulty & Robert Costa: Obamas immigration decision could roil 2014 election

Top GOP aides on Capitol Hill who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal plans said Republicans immediate response would be to play up Obamas past statements about the limits of his authority to make unilateral changes to immigration policy. They would argue that the president is abusing the power of his office and then focus on endangered Senate Democrats. Advisers to the National Republican Senatorial Committee already are focused on the idea of Democratic disarray on the issue. Mitt Romney the 2012 GOP presidential nominee whose defeat was blamed in part on having alienated Hispanics said in an interview last week that any short-term political gains made by Obama eventually could be overshadowed by the long-term consequences.

If the president takes unilateral action and makes law on his own and says hes going to go around the laws that have been passed by Congress then he is going to set us back for who knows how many years on true immigration reform and the security of our borders" Romney said. And that would be a terrible terrible mistake on his part."

Read the full article Karen Tumulty & Robert Costa in The Washington Post: Obamas immigration decision could roil 2014 election