Obama's incoherent immigration speech

He was more candid at other times, when he made clear that his policy was a partial substitute for the legislation he wants, which would offer illegal immigrants a path to citizenship. But his political challenge to Congress — I’m acting in your place because you haven’t, and to make you act — makes no sense if he’s just exercising prosecutorial discretion. It makes sense if he’s legislating from the White House.

Third, Obama invoked public opinion to legitimize his action — even though the public doesn’t appear to be on his side. “Most Americans support the types of reforms I’ve talked about tonight,” he said. That’s an arguable point. But most Americans don’t support Obama’s imposing those policies unilaterally. Polls shouldn’t trump our constitutional tradition: You know, all that stuff about Congress writing the laws. But the polls aren’t on Obama’s side anyway.

It was a speech, then, that was internally incoherent from top to bottom. Its tone clashed with the policies Obama actually intends to pursue. And it offered no plausible defense of those policies based on the Constitution, on a consistent moral argument or even on public opinion. It’s hard to imagine that it convinced many people about the propriety of the president’s actions.