President Obama has an opportunity to do two big things: help resolve the ongoing crisis at the border, and put us on a path to immigration reform. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem interested in either.
Today the president is in Texas, where he turned down an invitation from Gov. Rick Perry to tour the border for himself so he might see the crisis firsthand. Not interested, the president told the governor. Instead, he'll spend his time . . . fund-raising.
Obama's visit to Texas comes just after he asked Congress for $3.8 billion in emergency spending.
The money is meant to address the chaos at the border — and ensure proper care for the surge of arrivals, many of them children from Central America, who have overwhelmed local authorities.
Plainly, the cash is urgently needed: Locals lack the resources to deal with the influx. But also needed is more than a top-line, multibillion-dollar ask.
The president needs to lay out what specifically he'll spend the money on, and how it will address a crisis he has invited with his go-it-alone approach, including executive orders, such as the one granting quasi-legal status to minors who were taken here illegally.
Whatever the Beltway's assumptions before, the primary defeat of GOP House Majority Leader Eric Cantor made clear we will not get the immigration reform needed until Congress deals with the border.
In other words, if President Obama wants to change his legacy from massive immigration failure to bipartisan immigration reform, his best bet is to work with Republicans to craft a measure that addresses the humanitarian crisis, helps secure our southern border — and puts us in a better place to pass the other reforms we need.
Back in 2008, the president's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, famously said, "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste."
The border now presents Obama with such an opportunity to move America forward on immigration. But it requires a president willing to lead rather than play politics.
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