Opposing views: Republi-can'ts

Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner, R-Ohio, has his doubts. He doubts the effectiveness of the Affordable Care Act. He doubts his ability to get re-elected without looking like he just got back from Florida.

Most of all, he doubts the willingness of the Obama administration to dutifully enforce laws passed by his chamber.

So, in response, he has vowed to simply stop passing them. Boehner declared last week that the House likely won’t be sending immigration reform to the president’s desk until that changes.

We can debate various readings of the president’s constitutional duty to “faithfully execute” the law back and forth along a spectrum of strong to weak executive power.
Boehner seems to believe in an executive that follows Congressional instructions to the letter.

He and those like him would have you believe they are fighting a valiant, selfless, ideological battle against the unconstitutional expansion of executive power by a dangerous man. Never mind that this expansion of executive power has been taking place for decades or more — arguably as early as President Harry S. Truman — across various realms of public policy.

Apparently it’s just now that Congress, as fallaciously represented by the GOP, is realizing this might not be in their best interest.

Never mind the controversial executive orders of President George W. Bush, including everything from wire-tapping to stem cell research to broad legal protection for United States oil companies operating in Iraq.

Boehner stands in front of cameras and tells you he just doesn’t know what to expect from the president. He implies that he would rather see nothing get done on immigration than risk leaving even small details up to the president’s apparently wild and unpredictable agenda.

This should sound familiar because it’s exactly the kind of strategy this party has been spewing since the day Obama was sworn into office. Obstructionism, non-cooperation and denial of bipartisanship has been the playbook of the Republican party from day one.

In the 2012 book “The New New Deal” former Republican Senator George Voinovich told author Michael Grunwald, “If (Obama) was for it, we had to be against it.” For five years, the Republican strategy has essentially been No-bama.

That’s no way to govern a country.

Boehner and the Republican party are not the holy anointed stewards of all that is truly American and right. If their chamber is able to pass a bill and the president doesn’t want to enforce the way they wrote it or chooses to veto, it’s likely because he doesn’t agree with it. What Boehner doesn’t seem to understand is that’s exactly how the system is supposed to work.

There’s a reason Boehner’s party doesn’t control all of Congress and the White House — it’s because a significant part of this country still doesn’t agree that they are right.
 
So instead of simply refusing to function within a political system that’s specifically designed to give him and his party less than 100 percent of what they want, it’s time for the GOP to buck up and give the American people what they need — real immigration reform that is palatable, even if not perfect, for all stakeholders involved.

That means not only a bill that can pass Congress, but also a bill that the executive branch is enthusiastic to sign and execute.

­— drlreed@indiana.edu
 
Follow columnist Drake Reed on Twitter @D_L_Reed.