Ironically, as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) makes more of an effort to raise his national profile, it’s getting far more difficult to take him seriously. Comments like the ones he made yesterday are just clownish.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said the White House is trying to sabotage his version of the DREAM Act by “ordering” activists not to work with him so that President Obama can maintain his hold on the Latino vote in the 2012 election.
“One of the things that already been documented is that the White House has been, the articles that have been written, two or three by now, the White House has been calling in DREAM Act advocates and asking them, almost ordering them, not to work with me on this issue,” Rubio said Thursday on the Laura Ingraham radio show.
As Rubio sees it, his proposal would have a shot at passage, were it not for Democrats and immigration-reform advocates who’ve been ordered not to cooperate. Why? Because the White House wants to use GOP opposition to the DREAM Act as a 2012 “wedge issue” with Latino voters.
As proof of the White House working behind the scenes to kill legislation that does not yet exist, Rubio offered … pretty much nothing. The far-right senator alluded to “articles” showing administration officials instructing advocates not to work with him, but he hasn’t pointed to any specific pieces.
Whether Rubio appreciates the larger context or not, his conspiracy theory is absurd. The White House isn’t killing the senator’s watered-down version of the DREAM Act; Republicans are.
Mitt Romney’s chief advisor on immigration policy said Rubio’s plan is a non-starter, and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said the Florida senator shouldn’t even bother with his bill because it’s not going to pass.
Are we to believe the Romney campaign and the House GOP leadership are acting on instructions from Obama?
As one White House official recently told Sahil Kapur, “The notion that somehow the president or Democrats would be the roadblock to any progress on immigration is ridiculous. If this proposal fails, the reason will be the Republicans.”
The place for in-depth analysis, commentary and informed perspectives.