What a refreshing change to see President Obama finally stand up to the obstructionist, Tea Party wing of the Republican party last night in his prime time address, announcing his intention to use executive authority to provide some relief to the millions of immigrants and their families in this country, who have been held in a state of unnecessary legal limbo and fear in a broken system that a broken Congress has refused to address for the past six years.

If you follow the game of politics, last night’s move by the President was a bold chess move in the political theater, one that has been sadly lacking in strategic thinking and courage among Democrats for some time.   Republicans have come away from their wins in the midterm elections bragging about how Americans have rejected President Obama’s policies and ideas, as if they have finally won over the approval they have always deserved.  Given the fact that their midterm wins occurred with the lowest voter turnout since 1942, it’s hard to think they actually believe their own hype about having political capital and a public supported agenda.  Given the fact that leading up to the midterms, Republican governors and state legislatures were methodically moving to suppress voter turnout through strict voter ID laws and other measures, it is reasonable to assume that they know there is no popular support for their ideas and policies.  It’s also no secret among political leaders of either party that the House of Clowns only enjoys its comfortable Republican majority because of extreme gerrymandering.

I’ve been very vocal in the past about how many Democrats are either too incompetent  to explain their case or too spineless to fight for what’s right, so I won’t rehash that now. But the President’s move last night should be understood in the context of how it came about.  Repeatedly, President Obama has tried to persuade Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform.  And repeatedly, Republicans have rejected moving on the issue.  This Republican rejectionism extends back to former President George W. Bush as well, who was blocked by his own party from immigration reform.  But what is most absurd, is that the Senate did pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill, which Speaker John Boehner refused to bring to a vote in the House, because he feared upsetting the Tea Baggers who might want his do-nothing job.  Apparently, the bill would have had enough votes to pass in the House as well.  But the political thinking became that Republicans could take back the Senate in the recent midterms, which they did, and the House could gain more seats, which they did, so why give the President anything that could be viewed as victory before the midterms, or risk “alienating” the anti-immigration wing of the party?  That was the Republican political thinking.  The Democrats’ losing thinking at the time was that if Obama did anything through executive order regarding immigration, it might be used against them in the midterms.  The Republicans chose obstructionism, and fearing having to fight or explain their position at all, the Democrats chose cowardice.

In the mean time, millions of hard working immigrants and their families, have had to continue to live in the shadows of a broken system.

Obama finally did what he has threatened to do repeatedly:  he is using his limited executive authority to do some of what Congress refuses to do.  As they wanted, Mr. Obama waited until his party of chicken shits had their midterm election, and lost, to finally pull the trigger.  And the phony outrage about President Obama violating the Constitution, abusing his power, becoming the tyrant dictator that enslaves freedom loving white people, is on full, predictable, laughable display.

Obama gave a simple, concise, answer to all the bullshit and ballyhoo he knew would follow:

“To those members of Congress who question my authority to make our immigration system work better, or question the wisdom of me acting where Congress has failed, I have one answer: Pass a bill.”

Now the Republicans will have do more that squawk.  In January, they will have the majority in both chambers, and the responsibility of producing instead of obstructing, of putting forth solutions instead of complaints.  Given the weakness and cowardice of their own leadership, such as Speaker Boehner, who can’t rally his own herd of Tea Party radicals, it will be interesting to see how this plays out.  Given Ted Cruz’s delusional presidential aspirations, it will also be interesting to see if Mr. McConnel can lead the Senate to pass another immigration bill.

For all their over the top, only to be taken seriously on Fox Propaganda News Channel hype, Republicans know that continuing to refuse to address our broken immigration system, or shutting down the government again out of spite, will hurt their chances of winning the next Presidential election.  It may play well in Mexican hating states of the Deep South on local election levels, but nationally, the Republican leadership knows too extreme of a response to President Obama’s reasonable and legal actions towards immigration, will only destroy their chances at making inroads to the Latin American voter community.  The next Republican nominee may have to go find a “binder full of immigrants” to replace the “binder full of women” that Mitt Romney hoped would win him voters.

Republicans were hoping for aquience from a weakened President Obama after the midterm losses.  Mitch McConnell’s stated goal in 2008 of making his party’s number one priority making sure that President Obama was denied a second term, failed, but not without a record number of fillibusters and a government shutdown as proof of effort.  Democrats’ strategy of rolling over for the Republicans at every term and then trying to sound like a Republican in the elections, also failed.  Obama’s capitulation and efforts at compromise to an extreme, obstructionist party also failed.  Now it appears that with nothing left politically to lose, he has found his courage, and voice again.  Let’s hope he spends the next two years fighting for what’s right, instead of having bourbon with Mitch McConnell and playing golf with John Boehner, hoping to find “common ground” in what has always been a wild goose chase in a party of haters.