Eleven Dimensional Chess

(Editorial cartoon by Mike Luckovich and published 6/19/2012 by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Click on image to enlarge and then please return.)

I almost feel sorry for the GOP. Here they've been working hard to pivot from the harsh hard-right anti-immigration stand they've held for decades in order capture the ever growing Hispanic vote in this country, and they get out-maneuvered by a well-timed executive order which goes half-way to the Dream Act.

One Republican who's less than pleased with President Obama's announcement is Florida Senator Marco Rubio who had hoped to pose an alternative to the Dream Act that Republicans would support. Unfortunately, he never got around to finishing it.

In the latest aftershock from President Obama’s move to bar the deportation of some young illegal immigrants, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio has apparently abandoned his plan to offer a conservative alternative to the Dream Act. ...

Rubio said it would be hard to argue with fellow lawmakers when they say to him: “Why are we going to need to do anything on this now? It has been dealt with. We can wait until after the election.” The first-term senator made the comment in an interview with the Wall Street Journal’s Neil King.

And Mitt Romney? Well, he was kind of hoping that Rubio would provide him with a plan he could take to Latino voters to show all of the harsh rhetoric of the primary season could just be forgotten.

Romney is attempting to narrow Obama’s advantage among Latino voters, after spending the primary season running to the right of his main GOP rivals on the immigration issue. Polls have shown the president with a lead over Romney among Latinos even larger than Obama's lopsided advantage over John McCain in the 2008 election.

In an effort to reach out to Latinos, Romney has repeatedly sought cover from Rubio, a charismatic young conservative.

In recent months, Romney had hinted that he would back a Rubio proposal to help young, undocumented immigrants—assuming the senator could come up with one that gained wide Republican support—while declining to discuss the issue in detail. Last Friday, after Rubio responded coolly to Obama by warning that the president was making it harder, rather than easier, to resolve the problem, Romney echoed Rubio’s words in commenting publicly on the president’s move for the first time.

Republicans are all screaming that the president engaged in a blatantly cynical campaign ploy. Well, yes. Yes, he did. And it worked. Additionally, it was the right thing to do, but I don't assume that was high on the list of reasons for changing the deportation policy.

So Mitt Romney might want to keep a close eye on the people who do the yard work at his various mansions. He might get a lawn cut he won't be happy with.