Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Obama ties it off on Arizona lawsuit

Barely one day after his Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the state of Arizona over its new-but-not-yet-enforced immigration law, the Obama White House is already distancing itself from the matter, essentially tying it off and running for the political hills.  Today's Washington Post:

The White House has said the decision to challenge Arizona's immigration law was out of its hands, left completely up to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and the lawyers at the Justice Department.

...

Obama will be called upon frequently in the next several months to make the government's case that the Arizona measure unlawfully preempts federal law. As he campaigns for Democrats at town hall meetings around the country, it will be Obama -- not Holder -- who will be at the center of the intense discussion.

A senior Democratic strategist said Obama will probably seek to avoid directly defending the government's suit, or attacking the Arizona law, which remains popular in most polls. Americans largely see the law as an effort to do something about illegal immigration in the wake of federal inaction.

Out of his hands? The Attorney General of the United States, like all other cabinet secretaries, is a political appointee.  He serves at the pleasure of the POTUS and at no point during the conduct of his duties does a member of the cabinet take matters into his own hands or take action that falls outside of the policy agenda dictated by the White House.

The Obama regime wants us to believe that the White House really had nothing to do with this; that the lawsuit was the inevitable result of a careful reading of the Constitution and case law by the crack team of lawyers political hacks at DOJ.  If you believe that, I have slightly leaky oil well in the Gulf of Mexico for sale.  Cheap.

Obama is tying this one off and walking away, strictly for political purposes.  He's leaving Holder out there to dangle, and Holder has already taken intense Congressional heat for a disastrous appearance before the House Judiciary Committee last Spring. Between now and November, any appearances before House or Senate committees will certainly lead to intense scrutiny of  United States v. Brewer, and the political firestorm surrounding the state's action and DOJ's suit is going to torch a lot of Congressional races this fall. 

Obama can try to distance himself from the heat, but it's still his Attorney General, his Department of Justice, and his politically foolish firestorm.

Gimme some feedback in the comments.

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