Jarrett Claims Boehner Promised Amnesty

by JASmius

We do keep hearing periodic rumors to this affect.  And Tea Partiers are more than ready to believe those rumors.  Which makes me more than a little skeptical of them now that Valerie Jarrett - the Igor to Red Barry's Dr. Frankenstein - is pushing them:

Valerie Jarrett, senior adviser to President Barack Obama, says GOP House Speaker John Boehner has committed to green light comprehensive immigration reform, but not until after the summer’s primary elections are over, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

Jarrett made the remarks at the SkyBridge Alternatives Conference in Las Vegas, an annual gathering of  hedge fund managers, executives and political leaders.

Jarrett said Boehner has voiced his support despite a vocal GOP caucus, particularly members aligned with the tea party, determined to oppose it. He may opt for multiple bills rather than a single, omnibus bill, Jarrett said, adding that the White House would be fine with either approach. Jarrett characterized Boehner as expressing that he’s "very frustrated with his caucus."

"There’s a lot of ways to skin a cat,"  Jarrett said, according to the Review-Journal. "I feel very encouraged about immigration reform. I think you’re going to see mounting pressure."

Unless you believe that as top a lieutenant of the Obama braintrust Collective Consciousness as The Hobbit is prone to "go rogue" in "loose cannon" fashion - which I certainly don't - then I have to believe that Jarrett put this out there deliberately and calculatedly, with the full approval of the White House.  This leads to the question of what they're meaning for her comments to accomplish.  And try as I might, I don't see how a top Obama operative trying to figuratively high-five John Boehner in pre-emptive celebration is going to make it any easier for him to so treacherously shiv his caucus and the GOP grassroots.  Indeed, that would magnify the betrayal, and the accompanying stupidity of doing so right as the Republicans are headed for an even bigger red tsunami blowout than they enjoyed in 2010.  It's almost as if Jarrett is trying to reduce the chances of Amnesty being rammed through the House this summer, rather than enhance them.

Why would the White House want a result the opposite of the one they claim to seek?  I can think of three reasons right off the bat: (1) Take Congress out of play so that Barack Obama can impose Amnesty by Executive decree, and keep all the "credit" for himself; (2) in so doing, maintain his control over the Article I, Section 1 legislative power he's stolen from Congress and jealously protects; and (3) provide the Donk nutroots with one more piece of Pachyderm-hating motivation to turn out this November and maybe, just maybe, hang on to the Senate, somehow.

Of course, if the Speaker really is that blindly determined to shove Amnesty down our throats in the eternal quest for the phantom Hispanic vote, then "comprehensive immigration reform" passes, O takes "credit" for it anyway, Texas and Arizona are lost, the GOP implodes, he doesn't need to bother with a coup attempt, and can play golf and Galaga for the rest of his life.  A veritable win-win.

But I'm sticking to my theory, even if it is stubbornly optimistic.  Can't be too predictable, after all.