By WENDELL HUSEBØ
Former Obama official rightly slams Biden for ‘extraordinary policy mistake’ on inflation.
Microsoft Word – Barack Obama – Farewell to Staff and Supporters.doc (americanrhetoric.com)
A couple things stick out in my mind within Obama’s homecoming speech back into the White House. He addressed Biden as Vice President then he said that was a setup and addressed him as MY President. Obama is good at working a set up and Gigs like he said when he offered up his farewell address at Andrew AFB.
When smart people thought GoodBye and Good Riddance to bad rubbish. When he made this opening comment at Andrews AFB, he told on himself in my eyes, “Michelle and I, we’ve really been milking this goodbye thing, so it behooves me to be very brief.”
(Obama Milked his Gig for 8 years.)
Obama returns to White House to celebrate the ACA (eastbaytimes.com)
Besides Barack Obama mentioned himself 33 times during his White House
homecoming speech with President Biden on Tuesday. Obama used the words “I,” “I’m,” “me,” and “my” 33 times, according to a TVEyes transcription software search of MSNBC. More specifically, Obama used the word “I” 20 times while he spoke next to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Obama reportedly has not visited the White House in five years. Obama was president from 2008 to 2016. During his tenure, Americans became more polarized, though he campaigned on unity (Fact Check That Statement).
Biden Mocked After Barack Obama Ignores Him at White House Reception
After the event was over, a crowd surrounded Obama while Biden appeared to wander around looking for someone or for something to do. The Republican National Committee’s research team tweeted the video and the caption “Literally No One Wants to Talk to Joe Biden” (rumble.com)
The content of Obama’s speech was focused on the controversial passage of the Affordable Care Act, dubbed “Obamacare.” “So, when President Biden said he was not going to just celebrate the ACA but also announce actions that would make it even better, I had to show up,” Obama said.
“Members of Congress took courageous votes, including some who knew that their vote would likely cost them their seat,” Obama bragged. “And the night we passed the ACA — I’ve said it before — it was a high point of my time here, because it reminded me and reminded us of what is possible.”
Obama also offered cheer to the current Democrat White House, which has been marred by defeats: Since Biden assumed office, he has failed to pass the “Build Back Better” agenda, student loan forgiveness, the destruction of election integrity, and Supreme Court packing.
“Everybody feels frustrated sometimes about what takes place in this town.
Progress feels way too slow,” Obama said in an apparent attempt to calm angst. “But what the [ACA] shows is that, if you are driven by the core idea that together we can improve … if you stay with it and are willing to work through the obstacles and the criticism and continually improve where you fall short — you can make America better.”
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Governor Greg Abbott sparks fresh White House speculation with border moves
By Alex Gangitano
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) drew national attention this week by sending two buses full
of Latin American asylum applicants from the southern border to Washington, D.C., the
latest move to fuel speculation that he’s plotting a future campaign for the White House.
Abbott largely received praise from fellow Republicans for his headline-grabbing move, and the arrival of dozens of migrants to the streets of Washington was played on conversative news networks. Abbott has also sparked further controversy at the border with the now-repealed order for state troops to step up truck inspections, which fueled extensive traffic and protests by drivers.
The latest moves mark an audacious step into a hot-button issue that is a top animator
for Republicans by a skilled operator rumored to have grander ambitions beyond Austin.
And party insiders forecast the latest moves, while controversial, will be well received by an already amped up base.
“I think so far it’s playing well with Republicans because they clearly want their elected officials to be tough on illegal immigration, they want to make sure that security comes first,” said Brendan Steinhauser, a Texas-based GOP strategist and member of the Texas State Guard whose unit was deployed to help set up the operation to bus the migrants to Washington.
“From the people I’ve talked to, from the polling I’ve seen, from just anecdotal evidence
of where the activists are, where the voters are, they just want to see the governor and the president and future elected leaders, Congress, get tough and take action and put security first. And so I think they look at this and say, ‘he’s doing what he should be doing on that.’”
Abbott directed his state’s Division of Emergency Management to bring migrants in Texas to the nation’s capital in response to the Biden administration’s move to wind down Title 42, a sweeping border restriction policy implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic to allow for easier expulsions of migrants.
Fourteen Nicaraguan, Cuban, Venezuelan and Colombian nationals were dropped off on Thursday outside of the building that houses the Washington bureau of Fox News, which broke the story. On Wednesday, Fox News showed footage of the first bus full of migrants arriving in Washington, near the U.S. Capitol.
The migrants are all legally in the U.S. and waiting for official determination of their asylum claims. They also all voluntarily got on the bus to Washington, which the White House has repeatedly reminded the public of when asked for reaction on Abbott sending the buses.
But immigration is an issue that plays disproportionately up with Republicans. A Quinnipiac University poll from late March showed that just 9 percent of Americans
said immigration is the most important issue facing the country. However, 19 percent of Republicans said it is the most important issue, the highest share behind only those who cited inflation.
While Abbott’s actions on immigration this week elevate his profile nationally, former President Donald Trump’s looming decision on 2024 hangs over many Republicans like the Texas governor, Republican strategist Doug Heye said.
“Like so many Republicans, Gov. Abbott is increasing his name ID and pushing on issues important to the base and thereby putting himself in a position to run. But it still remains a waiting game for all of those Republicans until Donald Trump decides what he will do. They’re all jockeying for a race they ultimately may not run,” Heye said.
Related video: Abbott’s border politics (MSNBC) – Search (bing.com)
Abbott’s moves swiftly drew plaudits from other prominent Republicans who
said Abbott was bringing immigration to the fore after months of grumbling
over the rising number of border crossings.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said Wednesday, “Hopefully this gets liberal elites and the Biden administration to actually care about the millions of illegal aliens who are streaming across our southern border.”
“They’re going to see, with all these people invading Washington, D.C., like
they’ve invaded our border states, and it may make them realize how bad it is,”
Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) added on Fox News Thursday.
Beyond busing the migrants, Abbott had ordered truck inspections by state troops, which first sparked long lines at key border crossings before fueling driver protests. He repealed the order on Friday afternoon but before had argued that such inspections were necessary because he claimed the vehicles offer opportunities for smuggling.
The latest maneuvering sparked unsurprising backlash by Democrats, with White House press secretary Jen Psaki mocking the buses as a “publicity stunt.”
But Republicans say the publicity might not necessarily be bad for Abbott.
“I think it’s hard to separate politics and government. I mean, in everything that happens, whether it’s foreign policy or domestic policy, politics and government go hand in hand. Public relations is a key aspect of governing. So, I don’t see this any different than anything else,” Steinhauser said.
“There’s always a selling, a marketing side of it. There’s always a communications plan. And there clearly has been one on this. But I also think that it’s just one of the many things that the state of Texas is doing to try and deal with this problem.”
To be sure, not every Republican was pleased with Abbott’s recent decisions.
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller called the truck inspection policy
“misguided” and “political theater” in a letter to Abbott on Wednesday.
“Instead, this policy will hurt Texas and American consumers by driving up already skyrocketing food prices, worsening ongoing supply chain disruptions, causing massive produce shortages, and saddling Texas and American companies with untold losses,” Miller said, adding that he predicts prices will rise for limes and avocados within a week.
“Buses, and trucks, and demagoguery, oh my,” added moderate GOP commentator
Charlie Sykes.
“Texas’s Greg Abbott has simultaneously:
(1) manufactured a massive snafu at the border,
(2) shocked even some conservative allies with the crassness of his immigrants-on-a-bus stunt.”
But still, Abbott’s unique position as a border-state governor offers him a chance to differentiate himself from other Republicans, which could be a boon if he’s considering
a 2024 presidential run.
Abbott has leaned into culture wars during his reelection bid, bolstering his hardline
bona fides on issues like abortion, gun rights, “election integrity” and more to successfully beat back primary challenges from his right earlier this year. However, the stringent new policies he implemented have caught national attention and fueled speculation that he has his eye on the White House.
In a sign of immigration’s potency as a wedge issue, other prominent Republicans, including potential 2024 candidates, have pounced on the White House’s handling of
Title 42. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) warned migrants on the bus to D.C. not to try to get to his state after some of them reportedly said they hoped to make their way to Miami.
“Life will not be easy for you, because we are obligated to uphold the immigration laws of this country, even if our federal government and other states won’t,” DeSantis’s office told Fox News on Wednesday.
Dave Carney, Abbott’s political consultant, told The Hill the governor is solely focused
on his reelection bid this year, when he’ll face off against former Rep. Beto O’Rourke
(D-Texas). But Carney also boasted that Abbott’s latest moves are hitting on what Republicans view as a winning issue.
“I think it shows that Biden and Harris and the Democrats could have done something
like this in January of last year,” he said of Abbott’s policies. “But for politics, what they thought at the time was a winning issue, is going to kill them.”
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America needs to be saved 🇺🇸