I have a really really really really hard time believing that. I'd imagine that ANY administration would take electoral consequences into consideration when enacting policy.

This post was edited by thundercock on Sep 9 2014 10:03pm

Oh, don't mind him. He's in his own bubble-verse, spewing fantasies/spin/outright lies willy-nilly. Everyone knows Barry is very shrewd, he's outmaneuvered the Republicans pretty much his entire presidency. The only possible way one could claim he didn't care about the electoral consequences is if he weren't shrewd.

I don't get it, but I like the picture.



I mean, he's done a pretty shitty job so if this is him out-maneuvering the Republican party...they're even more incompetent than I first thought.

Backpedalling.

Of course Congressional Republicans are incompetent. Jay's right on the general issue that they could really stand to work with the Donkeys on some issues. They pick their fights poorly, and they're generally too absorbed in outright hostility with the administration. But that cuts both ways, regardless of what Barry's apologists will tell you.

You need look no further than at what actually happened. It's not difficult. The White House was told in no uncertain terms that acting alone on immigration would present certain electoral challenges, and then the White House doubled down on its declaration to go it alone on immigration; pushing the gas to the floor by saying that they'd act before the summer was up.

The White House simply didn't care that its action(s) would come with political consequences because it felt like it was right on policy and that politics would eventually follow. It's debatable whether or not that would have actually happened, but there's simply no ignoring the actual events here.



Well, no, I live in the world where we actually understand what happens in government and why. You on the other hand know little to nothing about what happens in government and why, so you have to resort to (poor) assumptions since you are a spectator, and not a particularly observant or competent one at that.

Well yeah, both parties are shit ATM. Really hope something changes in the next 20 years.

Ah, when all else fails, repeat lies until they stick. Gotcha. lmk when you get done hacking and lying.



I really don't see the acrimony abating anytime soon.

Jaykwik is going all out in this thread.

The idea that any political party or administration doesn't care about electoral fallout is absurd.

I personally interpret these moves as Obama positioning himself for a worst-case scenario come this mid-terms.

What happens if, and it seems somehow likely, Republicans pick up the Senate? The House pretty much just sued Obama over executive actions and it has been a cesspool since 2011. Cantor, a very conservative man and the purported next-Speaker of the House, lost in his primary because he reportedly wasn't hard enough on immigration. Let's consider Obama using executive authority to make immigration changes. The Republicans will probably try to impeach him in 2015 anyways because, hey, they're Republicans, but that would actually give them ammunition or start the ball rolling.

Shame on Obama letting politics get in the way of policy moves, shame on the Republicans, and shame on the electorate. I'm not sure how voters can really ignore the egregious things that the GOP has done over the last three, four years. Maybe when the party follows its mad ideological compass and takes the country to default by not raising the debt ceiling, something much more likely with GOP control of the House and the Senate & something we'll experience by mid-March, we'll reap the seeds of democracy.

This post was edited by Interesting on Sep 10 2014 01:20am

They simply don't care about that, and they don't have any reason to fear any outcome on this specific issue based on assurances they were given. The White House knows even under the hypothetical scenario of the Republicans clinging to an extremely narrow majority (which for them is the best case scenario) that the well isn't poisoned so long as they waited. Certain people in both parties will relent this winter, even before it's fully known which party will be in the majority next January. The White House will announce their executive orders before the elections in Louisiana and potentially Georgia are even settled, they just don't care how it turns the races. The primary concern from both sides is funding the government before Election Day.



Well, except it's not. Though the conflation is unnecessary, let alone stupid. The big mistake with the outdated conventional wisdom from people who have no earthly idea what is driving these events is the assumption that the White House is in agreement with Congressional Democrats on what to do and when to do it. It isn't. Members of Obama's party care about the possible electoral fallout and benefit, but the White House simply didn't in this case. They told Congressional leaders as much and their actions match their talk.