When even Luis Gutierrez says it's dead, it's deader than Sonny Corleone

This is ... news?

The two-year attempt to push immigration reform through Congress is effectively dead and unlikely to be revived until after President Obama leaves office, numerous lawmakers and advocates on both sides of the issue said this week....

Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) said ... "My point of view is, this is over.... Every day, [Republicans] become not recalcitrant, but even more energetically opposed to working with us. How many times does someone have to say no until you understand they mean no?"

I've been asking myself that very question about Democrats since January 2013. It became almost instantly obvious after the presidential election that Republicans would not change their ways; instead, they would double down on attacks, obstructionism, base-pleasing investigations and ruthless partisanship.

They possessed no policy programs of their own. No healthcare-reform alternatives, no immigration- or tax-reform plans, no ideas. "Reform conservatives" were, and are, terrified of their own party, lest they be defrocked Frum- or Sullivan-style. Republican pols would simply retire to carpet-chewing and ride to base-fevered victory in the subsequent midterms on malice alone. That was the plan. And so far, it has worked brilliantly well.

Meanwhile, congressional Democrats have looked like chumps. "How many times does someone have to say no until you understand they mean no?" The answer: Not nearly this many. Let's hope the history of 2013 and 2014 will be a guide for future obstruction victims, since common sense and gapingly conspicuous realism haven't had much effect.

 

Comments

[Peter G]

They don't need a policy agenda. They've got scandals. And now, new and improved, a lawsuit.