Not Breaking: Romney lies about Obama

Romney began his speech to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials today with a few whoppers.

Unfortunately, despite his promises, President Obama has failed to address immigration reform.

For two years, this President had huge majorities in the House and Senate – he was free to pursue any policy he pleased. But he did nothing to advance a permanent fix for our broken immigration system. Instead, he failed to act until facing a tough re-election and trying to secure your vote.

We've all been witness to the fact that - due to Republican obstructionism - for the last 3 1/2 years it has taken 60 votes to get anything passed in the Senate. If we wanted to be generous, we'd state that Democrats had a total of 60 votes for 7 months from the time Sen. Franken was sworn in until Sen. Brown assumed Ted Kennedy's seat. The reason that's generous is that those 60 votes included Sen. Lieberman, an Independent who caucused with the Democrats but often opposed President Obama's proposals. Either way, it wasn't even close to 2 years.

But if truth be told, a President is always free to "pursue any policy he pleases." He's just not guaranteed success with Congress. So let's remind ourselves of some of the things President Obama has worked on.

Back in May 2010 Senator Lindsey Graham threw a temper tantrum as the Obama administration attempted to work with Congress on comprehensive immigration reform.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) assailed President Barack Obama’s attempts to find other Republican senators willing to support immigration reform this year, calling the effort a “raw display of partisanship.”...

Graham has been one of the lead Republican negotiators on immigration, but has not been in the middle of the White House outreach, and was venting his frustration...

Graham walked away from negotiations with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on the immigration bill after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made clear he would push to move the legislation this year.

Graham’s move prompted the White House to reach out to other Republicans who might support moving reform.

Senator Graham threw these kinds of tantrums several times during discussions about immigration reform. But this one really does deserve some kind of award, doesn't it? First of all, he's crying because Reid brought up the bill at the wrong time. Then he's stomping his feet because President Obama is being way too partisan...by reaching out to other Republicans.

And they wonder why we talk about the President being the "only adult in the room."

Suffice it to say that these kinds of antics kept Congress from passing comprehensive immigration reform - despite President Obama's attempts to do so.

Then there was the DREAM Act...which was brought up for a vote during the 2010 lame duck session.  Fifty-five Senators voted for it. But that wasn't enough to overcome the Republican filibuster.

Following the failure of the DREAM Act, President Obama issued his first directive calling for prosecutorial discretion in the "apprehension, detention, and removal" of people fitting the Act's criteria.

And then he followed that up last week with a second directive that would allow DREAMers to qualify for a 2-year work permit.

So Mr. Romney, you are simply lying when you say that President Obama waited until a tough election fight to pursue progress on these issues.

I know the idea of Romney telling lies is about as newsworthy these days as a suggestion that pigs like mud (please don't jump all over me pig lovers - its just an analogy). So perhaps we will eventually be able to do away with these long explanations and shorten it all to something like this every time he opens his mouth.