Your friend comes over and complains to you for an hour about their significant other. Someone who is inconsiderate, disrespectful and generally everything Taylor Swift has ever written a song about. You think to yourself, finally, this time they are going to break up and you won’t have to keep having this same conversation over and over again. Next thing you know, your friend calls their significant loser and talks to them for 10 minutes. When they hang up your friend is halfway out the door to go to that person, wherever they are. Tune in next week for the same exact thing.
This is American politics.
They harp about their significant issues the entire election, but when it comes down to that phone call, that major legislation, the major reform, they’d rather things stay the same then grapple with the complexities of change.
Living in a democratic nation is wonderful, except when public relations paralyzes elected officials from doing anything they were elected to do. This complaint is anything but new, but has once again reared its ugly head as President Obama delays action on the issue of immigration because the controversy would damage the Democratic party in midterm elections.
White House officials report that President Obama would rather wait until after elections so the plan would be more “sustainable.” Strangely similar to your friend not wanting to break up with someone because their dog is sick.
Big changes and tough choices are never convenient, but they are worth it if it means changing immigration policy, and hopefully ending the impotent game of cat-and-mouse border patrol is playing with illegal immigrants now.
The Pew Research Center recognizes that the number of illegal immigrants living in the U.S. has leveled off, but is still resting at 11.3 million. What this survey suggests is that due to the slowdown, these millions of individuals who remain are more likely to become long term residents.
Essentially, your friend’s S.O. is moving in, and they haven’t discussed who is paying the rent. That is definitely not going to end well. Putting it off isn’t an option.
Obama needs to lay down the law soon, or the end of his term will have him married to a loser.