The Political Page, T+4 -- January 25, 2018

I can't post the link here; it will be blocked but this op-ed piece is too important not to be archived.

From Marc:

The government shutdown is over. Democrats finally realized that closing the government over illegal immigration was a losing political battle. They created a needless crisis and got rolled. So who is to blame for their current predicament? Along with Charles E. Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, Democrats can put the blame squarely on the man who could have legalized the “dreamers” when he had the chance: Barack Obama.

During his 2008 campaign, Obama promised in a conversation with Univision anchor Jorge Ramos to make passing immigration reform one of his first legislative priorities, and even set a timetable. “I cannot guarantee that it is going to be in the first 100 days,” he said. “But what I can guarantee is that we will have in the first year an immigration bill that I strongly support and that I’m promoting. And I want to move that forward as quickly as possible.”

If he had wanted to act, he could have. Obama’s party controlled the House, and Democrats had a 60-vote filibuster-proof Senate majority. If Obama really wanted to pass either the Dream Act or comprehensive immigration reform, Republicans were powerless to stop him. But he didn’t do it.

Of course, Obama was not alone in failing to act. Who was in charge of the issue on Capitol Hill? On the Senate side, none other than Schumer (D-N.Y.). In 2009, Schumer succeeded Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) as chairman of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on immigration. In that role, the New York Times reported, “Mr. Schumer would take the point in pushing for passage of a new bill.” But Schumer didn’t push. Neither did Pelosi (D-Calif.), who was speaker of the House at the time and had the power to bring immigration legislation to the floor at will. And Obama also did not push because, according to the Times, the president “does not intend to get out in front of any proposal until there is a strong bipartisan commitment to pass it.” Funny, he did not wait for a “strong bipartisan commitment” before pushing ObamaCare. But apparently immigration was not a priority. 

Much more at the story. Marc misses the big point.

The "headline" of that piece was that the Democrats "got rolled this past week." That is true.

But worse, or more accurate, was that the dreamers and Democratic donors got rolled.

There are three main cash cows for the Democrats:

• global warming
• fossil fuel (fracking, pipelines, CBR)
• immigration (dreamers, the wall)

The Democrats don't want to move on any of these issues. These "cash cows" are simply too big for anyone in the Democratic Party to lose.

The GOP has their cash cows, also, but I will let others opine on that. 

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Notes To The Granddaughters

"Black Panther" on its way to a heroic $100 - $120  million US debut.

Yesterday at Barnes and Nobles, as Sophia refers to it, Sophia saw a graphic cartoon book of the "Black Panther." This was the first time I had ever seen that particular graphic novel, and it was the only one of a dozen or so that caught Sophia's attention. She asked who the "Black Panther" was, absolutely mesmerized by the heroic stance and the muscular character staring back at her from the cover of the book. I explained to her who the Black Panther was.

Her reply: "That's my dad!"

By the way, Sophia's mom bought her a new CD the other day. Her mother was getting tired of listening to a Taylor Swift CD that Sophia was playing over and over and over.

So, her mother got her a new Taylor Swift CD. She gave it to Sophia still in the plastic bag and as soon as she opened it, she squealed with delight, "It's Taylor" and then kissed the CD. Remember, Sophia will not turn four years old until later this summer. 

She easily "operates" an iPhone, an iPad, and my MacBook Air. On the iPad she has found my e-books and yesterday was paging through Winnie the Pooh.