President Obama and his party have taken a huge political gamble on the issue of illegal immigration. It could turn a bad political year into a catastrophe.
Worse still for the president and his party, 2010 may sew seeds for future defeats.
Obama is resisting efforts to stop illegal immigration -- suing to block Arizona's crackdown and holding hostage federal enforcement of immigration law until Congress agrees to some sort of amnesty program for those already here.
The political calculation is that these stands, though generally unpopular, will fire up liberal voters and win the lasting loyalty of Hispanics, the kind that Democrats now take for granted with black voters.
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Obama-faces-backlash-on-his-immigration-plan-97958304.html
President Obama's decision to use his recess appointment power to fill a powerful health care post circumvented a bitter political proxy war over health care reform.
But whether his move flouted a promise to reject business-as-usual Washington politics depends on who is judging.
"I would call his using a recess appointment in this case a matter of Obama trying to overcome politics as usual," said Clark Ervin, an Aspen Institute scholar and the recipient of a recess appointment to be inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security from President George W. Bush.
Some Senate Republicans disagreed, however. Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah said Obama's move showed an "arrogance of power."
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Obama_s-recess-appointment-of-health-boss-rankles-the-Right-97970599.html
After her come-from-behind victory in the Nevada Republican Senate primary, Sharron Angle's campaign team has worked to change her image from far-right candidate to a more mainstream Republican.
But it may not be enough to save her campaign. State political analysts are now placing their bets on her Democratic opponent, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who just weeks ago was considered political toast.
"If you were in Vegas and wanted to get a bet down, I'd bet on Reid, but it wouldn't be a large bet," said Ted G. Jelen, professor and chairman of political science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
The most recent poll, conducted by Rasmussen three weeks ago, shows Angle up by 7 points, but it may be Reid who is leading by now.
"I'm not sure she is ahead anymore," said Nevada political journalist Jon Ralston. "There is some private data that indicate Reid may be pulling ahead. I consider the race a tossup that may be leaning toward Reid right now. Her numbers have fallen, there is no doubt about that."
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Reid_s-challenger-is-slipping_-but-how-far_-97963599.html
Faced with a string of Supreme Court ruings in cases dear to liberal hearts regarding campaign censorship and gun control, America’s liberals are taking up a new line of argument regarding the courts by accusing the right of being hypocritical on the subject of “judicial activism.”
It’s a rather convenient argument and certainly comes in reaction to conservative and libertarian groups’ now-successful attempts to use the courts to their advantage as the left has done for decades.
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/liberals-find-a-new-love-judicial-restraint-98011344.html
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