Amnesty: Why Now?

Steve wonders why Obama is pushing illegal immigrant amnesty during the economic downturn, when opposition to immigration is likely to be at an all time high.

Φ's answer: because the downturn will get worse.

Obama knows perfectly well that nothing he is doing will grow the real economy to the point that it can actually support his doubling of the federal budget. He also suspects that the electorate of 2008 did not put him in office because it suddenly stopped caring about the nation's fiscal solvency and the debt burden we pass to our children. Obama infers from this that his party will likely suffer significant setbacks in 2010 at the hands of these same voters; therefore, his power vis-a-vis the immigration issue (as, for instance, his handy intimidation of Senator Gillebrand into abandoning her career immigration skepticism) will never be greater than it is right now. How best can he avoid being turned out of office?

Import a new electorate!