Perhaps the most compelling moment in President Barack Obama's speech on immigration reform Thursday was his tacit acknowledgment that it is indeed a crime to be in the country without proper documentation.
Calling Arizona's new immigration enforcement law "unenforceable," the president said it not only puts pressure on state and local budgets, "it makes it difficult for people who are here illegally to report crimes, driving a wedge between communities and law enforcement, making our streets more dangerous and the jobs of our police officers more difficult."
So it appears as though the president understands that there is a constant and rampant violation of federal law occurring every day in Arizona, yet he has failed thus far to provide the state with the necessary tools to deal with the law-breakers. He has not sent the troops he promised, and he has not outlined a plan to deal specifically with the multitude of crimes happening in Arizona.
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Obama's Insidious Push for Immigration Reform originally appeared on About.com Conservative Politics: U.S. on Thursday, July 1st, 2010 at 22:04:14.
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In a 5-4 ruling Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court extended the right to keep and bear arms to all 50 states, regardless of the laws and ordinances passed to the contrary by individual states or municipalities.
The decision in the case of McDonald v. Chicago comes two years and two days after the High Court issued an equally important (and equally divisive) gun rights ruling, D.C. v. Heller, which struck down a ban on handguns in Washington, D.C.
Monday's ruling also comes on the first day of confirmation hearings for President Barack Obama's second Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan. The president's first Supreme Court appointee, Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, was among the High Court's dissenting minority.
Read more...Supreme Court: Second Amendment Applies to All 50 States originally appeared on About.com Conservative Politics: U.S. on Monday, June 28th, 2010 at 12:59:15.
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Senate Republicans killed a bill yesterday that would have provided the third six-month extension of unemployment benefits for those who have been out of work for more than a year and a half.
Liberals and, obviously, the long-term unemployed are crying foul over the Republican-led blockage of a $110 billion bill that would have provided long-term unemployment benefits to about $1.3 million people, and for which Senate Democrats were willing to violate their own PAYGO law to enact.
Conservative Republicans objected to the bill for a couple of reasons; not only did funding for the bill add directly to the U.S. government's already bloated $1.4 trillion deficit, several economists who specialize in unemployment benefits argue that by providing a seemingly endless stream of benefits to the unemployed, the federal government would have actually encouraged more out-of-work people to remain unemployed longer.
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Understanding the Decision to (Finally) Kill Super-Extra-Long-Term Unemployment Benefits originally appeared on About.com Conservative Politics: U.S. on Friday, June 25th, 2010 at 20:25:57.
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In an intriguing look at the behavior of key leaders during the Gulf Oil leak, The New Republic's Jonathan Chase is defending the leisure activities of BP CEO Tony Hayward, and by extension President Barack Obama.
Hayward and Obama were both "caught" enjoying themselves this weekend; Hayward was seen yachting around the United Kingdom's Isle of Wight as he attended a yacht race, and President Obama enjoyed Fathers' Day weekend by taking in a round of golf and a baseball game.
Chase argues that an oil executive's free time should be his own. Hayward shouldn't pretend to be poor, Chase says, and no one seriously expects him to work seven days a week. Meanwhile, Obama's great defenders over at NBC are arguing that Obama has actually gone on less personal outings than George W. Bush did when he was president (of course, one would certainly hope so -- after all, Bush was president eight years; Obama has been president for less than two). Frankly, if this is the best defense Obama can muster from NBC, he's got much bigger problems than I thought.
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Why Outrage at Obama & Hayward is Legit originally appeared on About.com Conservative Politics: U.S. on Monday, June 21st, 2010 at 23:41:33.
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It finally hit me why I've been so troubled by President Barack Obama's speech from the Oval Office on Tuesday.
Forget about the fact that a new poll shows Louisiana residents believe President George W. Bush handled the Katrina disaster better than Obama has handled the BP oil leak. Forget about the fact that it took Obama 56 days to make a speech he should have made within the first week of the disaster. Forget about the fact that Obama has hired yet another czar to -- literally -- take care of his dirty work.
Obama chose the Oval Office to underscore the serious approach he claims he is (finally) taking to the worst environmental disaster in American history -- a seriousness many believe he has failed to exhibit until just recently. When Obama's speech is juxtaposed against the many historic speeches delivered from the Oval Office, one particular point seems to stand out: Obama seems to be suffering an identity crisis. Is he candidate? Or is he a president? If his schedule is any indication, he certainly hasn't shown much presidential leadership during the crisis.
Read more...Oval Office Speech Reveals Obama's Deep-Seated Identity Crisis originally appeared on About.com Conservative Politics: U.S. on Thursday, June 17th, 2010 at 14:02:03.
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It was bound to happen.
When it comes time for a great campaigner to finally get down to the business of governing, it can be tough to kick the habit of checking polls, watching pundits and promising from the pulpit. Politicians experience a powerful rush from standing in a room filled with thousands of adoring people. It is so intense for some, that they become obsessed with their image, paralyzed by what everyone else thinks of them.
President Barack Obama is exhibiting the classic signs of the campaign-addicted politician. He was already struggling with his image even before the British Petroleum disaster. Now, it seems, he can't make a move unless it is first dictated to him by public opinion.
The BP oil leak appears to have caught the president off-guard, as though suffering a drop in public opinion over an issue involving the environment (of all things!) was the last topic on his mind. After all, Obama is a liberal. He owns the environment issue, as far as he is concerned, and yet ... here he is, being criticized for his campaign's administration's response to an oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.
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Helplessly Addicted to Campaigning, Obama Becomes Paralyzed by Public Opinion originally appeared on About.com Conservative Politics: U.S. on Monday, June 14th, 2010 at 12:30:16.
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