{"id":4181,"date":"2014-11-22T10:21:58","date_gmt":"2014-11-22T17:21:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/?p=4181"},"modified":"2014-11-22T10:21:58","modified_gmt":"2014-11-22T17:21:58","slug":"obamas-executive-immigration-action-why-i-oppose-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2014\/11\/obamas-executive-immigration-action-why-i-oppose-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama’s Executive Immigration Action: Why I Oppose It"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Elizabeth Barrett Browning once penned the poetic words: \u201cHow do I love thee? Let me count the ways.\u201d I find myself asking something similar about Obama\u2019s executive immigration action: \u201cHow do I oppose thee? Sheesh, this could take a while!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"635521115415373268-AP-Obama-Immigration\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Perhaps an entire book would be a more fitting venue for expressing why Obama\u2019s executive immigration action is bad for immigrants, bad for America, opposed to Scripture \u2014 but good for his own interests. So I\u2019ll start tackling it in bits and pieces.<\/p>\n

Here on the Evangelical Channel at Patheos, we\u2019ve heard from Brandan Robertson who supported the action<\/a> and Gene Veith who opposed<\/a>. What struck me most about Roberton\u2019s response was his claim to understand the President\u2019s \u201closs of patience\u201d in the matter:<\/p>\n

While I understand that this situation is politically complex, I cannot help but sympathize with the President\u2019s frustration and loss of patience. <\/strong>When it comes to defending the cause of the oppressed and immigrant, we no longer have time to sit around and debate.\u00a0 We no longer have time to \u201cbuild consensus.\u201d<\/strong> Thousands of immigrants to the United States are being deported every year, tearing apart families and destroying the hopes and dreams of those who have long waited the chance to make it to this great nation. Millions more live in fear of deportation every day, worrying that the lives they are working so hard to establish could be destroyed at any moment. [emphasis mine]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

With apologies to Brandan, that makes no sense to me. Suddenly<\/em>, we no longer have time? A situation twenty-five years in the making has suddenly<\/em> become so urgent that bending or breaking the Constitution is justified? Waiting even two months to work with the newly elected Republican majority is impossible? What made it so urgent? Ebola risks? Terrorist threats? Or election results?<\/p>\n

The Truth about Obama\u2019s Leadership<\/span><\/h3>\n

The simple truth is this: President Obama and his party have failed to lead on immigration reform. It\u2019s not that they haven\u2019t made a lot of noise and raised a lot of money off the issue. But they have done nothing to solve the problem within the boundaries of the authority granted to them by the US Constitution.<\/p>\n

All they have done is blame someone else\u2014namely the Republicans. This President has chosen to take a position that has served him well politically, that of the victim<\/a>. And now, in the moment when his voice has become most insignificant to the American cultural dialogue, at the moment when his own legacy hangs most perilously in the balance, and at the moment when Congress is poised to actually be able to do something about the problem, he acts, citing inactivity by others as his rationale. I\u2019m not buying it. Neither, I think, are the American people. They\u2019re not as stupid as Obamacare architect Gruber claims them to be<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What It\u2019s Really All About<\/span><\/h3>\n

Obama\u2019s executive immigration action is really about three things:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Maintaining Obama\u2019s base by appearing to keep promises he made to them<\/strong> (not actually keeping them, mind you, just looking like he did). True, his action also positions the Democratic Party to look good to certain segments of the Latino population, but, fundamentally, Obama doesn\u2019t seem to care much for the welfare of his party. One need only look at the unprecedented decline of the Democrat party during his tenure for proof of his lack of concern for the party\u2019s well-being.<\/li>\n
  2. Shaping his own legacy as the courageous community organizer who stands against the odds and for all who embrace the label of \u201cvictim.\u201d<\/strong> \u00a0Al Sharpton, Bill Clinton, and Jesse Jackson aren\u2019t getting any younger. And I\u2019m not expecting Obama to go away quietly as Bush 43 did. \u00a0I fear that the next two years will be all about image and perception for him as he becomes less and less relevant to the political process.<\/li>\n
  3. Poking Republicans in the eye.<\/strong> The Republicans have the upper-hand politically thanks to the American voters. All Obama can do is try to distract them from their agenda, to irritate them into making unforced errors\u2014something they are quite good at. Obama knows it and intends to fully exploit that weakness and divide them as much as possible. In a purely Machiavellian kind of way, I respect the genius of his attempt to define the terms of the discussion as the most politically irrelevant person in the room.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Obama\u2019s executive action is not about helping families of people who have entered the country illegally. If he had wanted to do that, he could have initiated legislative action with his Democratic friends when he controlled both houses of Congress or in the Senate at any time in the last four years, the kind of bills bills that actually had a prayer of being passed. Saying the House has done nothing is a misdirection. What would have been the point of passing an immigration reform bill that the Senate would not even consider and he would veto due to its focus on border security first?<\/p>\n

    How to Get Real Immigration Reform<\/span><\/h3>\n

    If he had truly wanted real immigration reform, he could have secured our borders in a real way to stop the continued flow of people illegally entering our country. He did not. Actions speak louder than executive decrees.<\/p>\n

    If you secure the borders, you will have overwhelmingly bi-partisan support for a path to citizenship for all but the most violent offenders.<\/strong> Poll after poll supports widespread support for resolving this situation if and only if the border is secured first<\/em> to stop this situation from happening again. Those old enough to remember or read a little political history know that we did this in 1986 with a promise to secure the border. Fool me once, shame on you. But twice? I don\u2019t think so.<\/p>\n

    Obama\u2019s refusal to secure our border betrays too much of his agenda to foster a new victim sub-culture dependent on Washington government. \u00a0It\u2019s an action that is anything but biblical, a point I intend to develop in future posts. His action is about expanding his power base, not empowering hard-working people who live in the shadows to succeed.<\/p>\n

    Christians should be outraged and screaming for justice, not because \u201cevil Republicans\u201d think little stuff like the rule of law in society should be respected (a foundational issue in God\u2019s revelation in Scripture). No, Christians should be outraged because President Obama has trampled justice to advance his personal agenda at the expense of millions of people, people God loves and cares about deeply. He has condemned them to three years of immigrant status limbo, manufacturing a crisis he can use for political purposes in the process, while kicking the resolution of his crisis into the next President\u2019s tenure. Meanwhile he emerges a hero of his base, a courageous champion for the oppressed. That image should play nicely for securing six-figure speaking engagements and seven-figure book deals while traveling the world as a post-presidential community organizer.<\/p>\n

    President Obama failed to lead and now he\u2019s throwing the political equivalent of a Hail-Mary pass to try to save his own legacy.<\/p>\n

    I get it. But what puzzles me is why any Christian would applaud it.<\/p>\n

    Have you subscribed to FaithWalkers email updates?\u00a0Click here to get regular updates to grow your faith.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning once penned the poetic words: \u201cHow do I love thee? Let me count the ways.\u201d I find myself asking something similar about Obama\u2019s executive immigration action: \u201cHow do I oppose thee? Sheesh, this could take a while!\u201d Perhaps an entire book would be a more fitting venue for expressing why Obama\u2019s executive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1084,"featured_media":4182,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6],"tags":[647,934,240,933,137],"class_list":["post-4181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-politics","tag-biblical-immigration","tag-immigration-executive-order","tag-immigration-reform","tag-obama-executive-immigration-action","tag-president-obama"],"yoast_head":"\nObama's Executive Immigration Action: Why I Oppose It<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Elizabeth Barrett Browning once penned the poetic words: \u201cHow do I love thee? Let me count the ways.\u201d I find myself asking something similar about Obama\u2019s\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2014\/11\/obamas-executive-immigration-action-why-i-oppose-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Obama's Executive Immigration Action: Why I Oppose It\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Elizabeth Barrett Browning once penned the poetic words: \u201cHow do I love thee? Let me count the ways.\u201d I find myself asking something similar about Obama\u2019s\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2014\/11\/obamas-executive-immigration-action-why-i-oppose-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FaithWalkers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-11-22T17:21:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/331\/2014\/11\/635521115415373268-AP-Obama-Immigration.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"534\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"401\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bill Blankschaen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bill Blankschaen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2014\/11\/obamas-executive-immigration-action-why-i-oppose-it\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2014\/11\/obamas-executive-immigration-action-why-i-oppose-it\/\",\"name\":\"Obama's Executive Immigration Action: Why I Oppose It\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-11-22T17:21:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-11-22T17:21:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/#\/schema\/person\/5560c0a98f542f838152bf4905b03dcb\"},\"description\":\"Elizabeth Barrett Browning once penned the poetic words: \u201cHow do I love thee? Let me count the ways.\u201d I find myself asking something similar about Obama\u2019s\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2014\/11\/obamas-executive-immigration-action-why-i-oppose-it\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2014\/11\/obamas-executive-immigration-action-why-i-oppose-it\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2014\/11\/obamas-executive-immigration-action-why-i-oppose-it\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Obama’s Executive Immigration Action: Why I Oppose It\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/\",\"name\":\"FaithWalkers\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/#\/schema\/person\/5560c0a98f542f838152bf4905b03dcb\",\"name\":\"Bill Blankschaen\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50dd3b6d344807f779ec98d51630f161?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50dd3b6d344807f779ec98d51630f161?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Bill Blankschaen\"},\"description\":\"Bill Blankschaen is a writer, author, and speaker who empowers people to live an authentic life with abundant faith. A former pastor, Christian school leader, and master teacher, he is the founder of FaithWalkers (Faithwalkers.com) where he equips Christians to live an authentic life and a blogger on faith and cultural issues at Patheos and TheResurgent.com. He is the author of several books including A Story Worth Telling: Your Field Guide to Living an Authentic Life, What God Wants You to Do Next, The Secret to Explosive Personal Growth, and multiple collaborative books including his latest with co-author Erick Erickson \u2014 You Will Be Made to Care: The War on Faith, Family, and Your Freedom to Believe (Regnery, February 22, 2016). In addition to his own writing and speaking, Bill helps other people and organizations tell their own story in effective ways. He comes alongside authors as a collaborative writer, handcrafts engaging materials as a content creator, and creates an effective brand strategy as a platform developer with his team of creatives and digital technicians. (BillintheBlank.com)\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/FaithWalkersBlog.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/author\/billblankschaen\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Obama's Executive Immigration Action: Why I Oppose It","description":"Elizabeth Barrett Browning once penned the poetic words: \u201cHow do I love thee? Let me count the ways.\u201d I find myself asking something similar about Obama\u2019s","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2014\/11\/obamas-executive-immigration-action-why-i-oppose-it\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Obama's Executive Immigration Action: Why I Oppose It","og_description":"Elizabeth Barrett Browning once penned the poetic words: \u201cHow do I love thee? Let me count the ways.\u201d I find myself asking something similar about Obama\u2019s","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2014\/11\/obamas-executive-immigration-action-why-i-oppose-it\/","og_site_name":"FaithWalkers","article_published_time":"2014-11-22T17:21:58+00:00","og_image":[{"width":534,"height":401,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/331\/2014\/11\/635521115415373268-AP-Obama-Immigration.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Bill Blankschaen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bill Blankschaen","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2014\/11\/obamas-executive-immigration-action-why-i-oppose-it\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2014\/11\/obamas-executive-immigration-action-why-i-oppose-it\/","name":"Obama's Executive Immigration Action: Why I Oppose It","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-11-22T17:21:58+00:00","dateModified":"2014-11-22T17:21:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/#\/schema\/person\/5560c0a98f542f838152bf4905b03dcb"},"description":"Elizabeth Barrett Browning once penned the poetic words: \u201cHow do I love thee? Let me count the ways.\u201d I find myself asking something similar about Obama\u2019s","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2014\/11\/obamas-executive-immigration-action-why-i-oppose-it\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2014\/11\/obamas-executive-immigration-action-why-i-oppose-it\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2014\/11\/obamas-executive-immigration-action-why-i-oppose-it\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Obama’s Executive Immigration Action: Why I Oppose It"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/","name":"FaithWalkers","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/#\/schema\/person\/5560c0a98f542f838152bf4905b03dcb","name":"Bill Blankschaen","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50dd3b6d344807f779ec98d51630f161?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50dd3b6d344807f779ec98d51630f161?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Bill Blankschaen"},"description":"Bill Blankschaen is a writer, author, and speaker who empowers people to live an authentic life with abundant faith. A former pastor, Christian school leader, and master teacher, he is the founder of FaithWalkers (Faithwalkers.com) where he equips Christians to live an authentic life and a blogger on faith and cultural issues at Patheos and TheResurgent.com. He is the author of several books including A Story Worth Telling: Your Field Guide to Living an Authentic Life, What God Wants You to Do Next, The Secret to Explosive Personal Growth, and multiple collaborative books including his latest with co-author Erick Erickson \u2014 You Will Be Made to Care: The War on Faith, Family, and Your Freedom to Believe (Regnery, February 22, 2016). In addition to his own writing and speaking, Bill helps other people and organizations tell their own story in effective ways. He comes alongside authors as a collaborative writer, handcrafts engaging materials as a content creator, and creates an effective brand strategy as a platform developer with his team of creatives and digital technicians. (BillintheBlank.com)","sameAs":["http:\/\/FaithWalkersBlog.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/author\/billblankschaen\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1084"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}