It appears that the Obama administration’s role in the immigration debate is more heavy-handed than the public was initially led to believe. According to a recent report from Politico, a senior White House official was quoted as saying, “No decisions are being made without talking to us about it…This does not fly if we’re not O.K. with it,” regarding the Gang of Eight negotiations.
The unnamed official continued, “We’re the hammer on the back end. If the Republicans try to scuttle it, we’re the ones who can communicate to the Latino community who scuttled it.”
Ironically, this report came out simultaneously with Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) reaffirmation of support for the Gang of Eight comprehensive immigration reform bill. “I think 95, 96 percent of the bill is in perfect shape and ready to go,” stated the Florida Republican last Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” Rubio also repeated the claim that with improvements on border security, the bill “will have strong bipartisan support.” (Politico, Jun. 16, 2013)
If the Obama administration is admittedly overseeing all immigration reform and taking credit for negotiations, how is it possible that the Gang of Eight amnesty bill can be a bipartisan compromise? Sen. Rubio is clearly mistaken, or playing the game of Washington politics. What Rubio calls “bipartisan” is, in fact, nothing more than the Obama administration orchestrating comprehensive immigration reform with a handful of Republican talking heads. Again, why do Republicans think they would get credit for anything that passes?
As Rubio continues to double down on the Gang of Eight’s amnesty bill, it appears that he is ideologically aligned with Obama and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) rather than being manipulated in a political game. Through the smoke and mirrors of Washington politics, this bill repeats the mistakes of 1986: amnesty first with promises of enforcement later, if ever….