What President Obama thinks he knows about the coming immigration battle

Washington Post ^ | November 20, 2014 | By Chris Cillizza

[Jim Robinson]

No issue this side of the Keystone XL oil pipeline has been ruminated on longer by the Washington political set than immigration reform. So, President Obama knows what he is getting into when he officially announces his decision Thursday night to take executive action to halt the deportations of millions of undocumented immigrants. And he's doing it anyway. Why? Because he thinks he knows how, in the end, this all plays out -- and thinks it works in his favor.

Here's what Obama thinks he knows:

1. Republicans were never going to work with him. You can imagine Obama rolling his eyes...

2. Republicans will overreach. By thumbing his nose at Republicans'...

3. He can and will sell it. As we've written before, Obama -- still -- has...

4. The legal argument is too convoluted to matter politically. Obama, as you may have heard, is a constitutional scholar. He...

5. It will energize and unite increasingly fractious Democrats in Congress. BREAKING NEWS: Congressional Democrats and Obama are not...

6. This will cement the Latino community as Democrats for a very long time. Hispanics -- and especially groups that advocate for the rights of undocumented workers -- won't...

Whether what Obama thinks he knows about the imminent fight winds up being right or wrong is the stuff of the coming weeks and months. But, he's gamed out what his announcement Thursday will mean and likes what he sees.

[sheana]

And look how well that turned out. They are having multitudes of babies and draining coffers without having to produce anything else.

[Resolute Conservative]

I am at work as I am 6 days a week to pay my taxes and support my family with no government handouts, never.

[randita]

I think Republicans would have worked with him to find some common ground, but he doesn’t want to share credit (if there is any) with them. Heading into 2016, he wants to be able to say that Republicans don’t care about Hispanics and we do. If the GOP fights him on this, then he’ll make the same claim.