THE PRICE OF UNILATERAL RULE
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304626804579359221440239600?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop
Obama’s disdain for the law may kill immigration reform.
President Obama declared last week that he plans to act even more aggressively than he already has to govern on his own, and he’s brought in new adviser and liberal spear-carrier John Podesta, who has ostentatiously advertised the same plan. That may sell in Democratic precincts, but the side effect could be the destruction of what is left of Mr. Obama’s legislative agenda.
John Podesta Associated Press
That was clear enough on Sunday when George Stephanopoulos asked Congressman Paul Ryan on ABC’s “This Week” about the chances for immigration reform this year. “I really don’t know the answer to that question. That is clearly in doubt,” replied the Wisconsin Republican. Mr. Ryan has quietly led the debate inside the House GOP for pro-growth immigration reform, in the tradition of Jack Kemp and Ronald Reagan.
But Mr. Ryan explained that the main obstacle to a bipartisan reform is that too many Republicans believe Mr. Obama will simply ignore laws he doesn’t like—even one the President signs. “We have an increasingly lawless presidency where he is actually doing the job of Congress, writing new policies and new laws without going through Congress. Presidents don’t write laws, Congress does. And when he does things like he did in health care, delaying mandates that the law said was supposed to occur when they were supposed to occur, that’s not his job,” Mr. Ryan said. “Here’s the issue that all Republicans agree on: We don’t trust the President to enforce the law.”
Regarding immigration, the problem is that even some supporters of reform don’t think Mr. Obama will implement border-security measures if Congress passes them as part of a compromise. We think the GOP puts too much focus on border enforcement rather than market mechanisms to stop illegal migration. But if reform fails this year, the fault will lie as much with Mr. Obama’s disdain for the law as it will GOP opposition.
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