Obama Justice Department Files Suit Against Arizona

President Obama gave a speech on immigration reform at American University, his first such speech on the topic since he came into the office. He now claims it is a policy that must be hashed out and finished as soon as possible, though up until now he has shown no interest in the subject. He now claims that it can only be done with bi-partisan support.

Funny, when he took over 1/6 of the U.S. economy with the health care reform legislation, he did it with only Democratic support. With such a large and strong Democratic majority in Congress plus a Democrat in the White House, he can ram through any legislation he wishes to make an issue. Claiming he needs bi-partisan support is simply taking another shot at Republicans. The bully in the Oval Office know full well that Republicans want immigration reform just as Democrats do.

This is Senator John Cornyn, (R-TX) as reported in the Dallas Morning-News:

"Giving a speech on [Thursday] morning at 11 am at American University, without any specific proposals but just sort of this exhortation that you know, things are not good and they need to be fixed -- I just don't think is the kind of leadership that you would expect."

Obama laid out the reasoning that the borders are too vast, that they are simply impossible to secure. What has he moved to as inspiration now? Is it now "no, we can't"? He is really only interested in policy changes and not actual border security.

This article notes that Obama gave rare praise to former President Bush in his efforts towards immigration reform.:

It was only toward the end of the speech that he acknowledged in passing that his “predecessor” had “shown courage” on the issue. In fact, George W. Bush put forward a not dissimilar package of immigration reform in 2005.

But unlike Bush, who unveiled his immigration plan at the start of his second term hoping (in vain, as it turned out) to cash in some of his political capital on an issue he cared about, Obama’s purpose here seems to be about politics, not principle, as he is hoping that Hispanics will blame Republicans for the inevitable failure of this proposal. While this may ratchet up the Hispanic vote for the Democrats, it’s hard to see how this will work in a midterm election in which many Democrats around the country are just as likely to resent illegal immigrants as Republicans.

Funny, too, that Obama didn't acknowledge just how much of the 'bi-partisan' legislation from the Bush administration that he voted against during his brief time in the U.S. Senate. He voted against a guest worker program, for instance.

This article speaks to the sheer vanity of the speech: The 44th president and son of an immigrant covered a wide array of issues: He described his Democratic administration's ambitious legislative efforts to address healthcare, the faltering economy, the need for more government financial regulations, education changes and clean energy.

He didn't have time to get into the stubbornly high unemployment rates and the ongoing gulf oil spill. Nor his faltering job rating and the poll majorities supporting repeal of his beloved healthcare legislation and support for Arizona's illegal immigrant enforcement legislation.

But he did claim credit for standing up to fierce opposition. "Despite the forces of the status quo," the president said, "despite the polarization and the frequent pettiness of our politics, we are...


...confronting the great challenges of our times." And he vowed to not "just kick the can down the road."

Now, the Obama Justice Department has sued the State of Arizona over legislation that is not even law yet. The Arizona legislation does not become law until the end of July. The suit demands a preliminary injunction of a law that is not on the books. The suit also does not even address the potential for discrimination at the hands of law enforcement as Obama is so fond of saying. It is simply politics - pandering to potential Hispanic voters.

Isn't it odd that Obama continues in his display of so little respect for the good sense of law enforcement? He did so during the incident in Cambridge with his friend and the police officer checking on a report of a burglary in progress and now by claiming that Arizona law enforcement will be too tempted to wily nily demand identification from folks in Arizona. Another instance of this president who claimed to be the post racial, post partisan candidate. My how it all changes once the job is acquired, even by the alleged candidate of change.