As President Barack Obama's prepares to announce his long-awaited
executive action on immigration Thursday, Republicans and Democrats each face their own political challenges depending on how Americans respond to the unilateral decision to give millions of illegal immigrants temporary amnesty from deportation.
According to
The Washington Post, Republicans will emphasize that the president's action represented a gross executive overreach, but will struggle to find a legislative response that does not undermine the public's faith in their ability to constructively govern.
"Republicans need to handle this in a sensitive way," Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch told the Post, adding that anyone who floats impeachment would be shunned by most in the party and "considered pretty erratic and pretty excessive."
Democrats will say that the action was necessary to protect the burgeoning Latino demographic, but will hope that the public focuses on the merits of the policy rather than
their opposition to his acting unilaterally.
Numerous Republicans have already characterized Obama as a despotic ruler.
Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions called him
"emperor of the United States." Rush Limbaugh echoed those sentiments. And John Boehner's office also issued the harsh characterization.
"If 'Emperor Obama' ignores the American people and announces an amnesty plan that he himself has said over and over again exceeds his constitutional authority, he will cement his legacy of lawlessness and ruin the chances for congressional action on this issue — and many others," said
Boehner spokesman Michael Steel.
The White House has given a robust defense of Obama's decision to act even as it anticipates fierce criticism from the GOP.
Without legislation, White House press secretary John Earnest said Wednesday, "The president is somebody who is willing to examine the law, review the law and use every element of that law to make progress for the American people," according to the Post.
"If that is something that Republicans are critical of, then that's ... a criticism that the president wears with a badge of honor."
Former housing secretary Henry Cisneros predicted that public opposition to the executive action will ultimately fade.
"While the breadth of anger will be wide, the intensity of the benefits will be deep," Cisneros told the Post.
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