Obama doesn't care what the people think

UH-OH, HE WENT and did it.

President "I Hear You" Obama heard someone, not the Republican majority, and last night announced his not-so-long-threatened executive action relieving the (mostly baseless) fear of deportation of about 5 million people from other countries who are here illegally. (I am not allowed to use the I-Word, and I don't mean Immigrant.) He didn't mention 5 million, analysts did.

Here's a snapshot of what Obama said: For supporters, a warm, emotional anecdote about family values. For opponents, tough talk, such as: legal immigrants "watch others flout the law," "we are a nation of law," the border will be strengthened, "we expect to play by the rules." Deportations should be "felons, not families" and "criminals, not children."

His action invites those here illegally for more than five years to come forward, pass a criminal-background check, get straight with the law, pay their taxes and be allowed to live and work here legally and temporarily.

All day yesterday, the pro- and anti-illegal-immigration forces used email as a Gatling gun to spray their version of Obama's righteousness or lawlessness in moving to resolve this decades-old problem.

The executive order will be in force through his presidency or until it is replaced by congressional action or overruled by the courts. Several Republican governors have threatened to take this to court.

Far more than a year ago, Obama was saying he didn't have the legal authority to act. Now he says he does. Was he getting bad legal advice then? Or is he getting bad legal advice now? He didn't explain his U-turn.

With the last election he's "responsible" for over, I think he doesn't give a damn.

He pulled the trigger on Somali pirates and on Osama bin Laden, and now he's shooting at Senate Majority Leader-elect Mitch McConnell.

Republicans who bleated that he should give the next (more-heavily Republican) Congress a chance to act are either lying or living in never-never land.

The president has the legal authority to defer deportation for some persons living here illegally. That was done by President George H.W. Bush and President Reagan, but never for a massive number.

Bush and Reagan acted to mend legislation that already had passed. Obama is acting because the House would not act on legislation that had passed the Senate. The courts will decide if it is legal. It should be challenged to sink or swim.

Now for the politics: Obama's alibi that he didn't have the authority to act conveniently expired after the election. It would have hurt Democrats.

Why?

Although a majority of Americans want comprehensive immigration reform, a majority also don't want anything that has the aroma of amnesty.

Because there are penalties and the undocumented have to go to the end of the line, this is not amnesty, but many won't see it that way.

The executive action remains unpopular with the public. Slightly more than one-third of the public approves of its use, according to an NBC News/New York Times poll, while 48 percent oppose.

With just 38 percent favoring it, does that mean he shouldn't do it? No. But does it mean he should bull ahead, taking action on a scale without precedent, when his job-approval rate is barely over 40?

It's like he doesn't give a damn.

It's possible that this is a trap to lure Republicans into action that will be portrayed as "anti-immigrant," and Obama's move has a strong political scent to it. The more-irrational elements of the GOP are talking impeachment, which would succeed only in giving Republicans a black(er) eye. (Hmm . . . That's an I-word I can use - impeachment. It won't happen.)

One fear is that his action may reopen the floodgates, as what happened after his DREAM Act, aimed at protecting the children of illegal immigrants. Tens of thousands, not knowing they were not eligible, flooded across our southern border.

Like a majority of Americans, I understand that it's senseless to deport them, but their illegal behavior must not be rewarded. Obama said that they won't get benefits (their children will, of course), and that they can't stay permanently.

Obama said his plan will "give them a chance to make amends."

Instead of demands for special treatment after breaking our laws, those living here illegally ought to make a public apology.

That would be nice - and a first.

Phone: 215-854-5977

On Twitter: @StuBykofsky

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