The Atlantic: On Immigration, Obama Fulfills His Promise to Progressives

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/11/with-immigration-obama-fulfills-his-promise-to-progressives/383022/?single_page=true&google_editors_picks=true

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In his decision to act, by himself, on immigration, President Obama chose between two sides of his political self.

It’s hard to remember now, but once upon a time, bipartisanship was near the heart of Obama’s political appeal. In the speech that introduced him to Americans, at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, Obama’s most famous line was neither a plea for universal healthcare nor a condemnation of the war in Iraq. It was a call for overcoming America’s political divide: “The pundits like to slice and dice our country into red states and blue states…[But] we are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.” When Obama ran against Hillary Clinton, a key rationale for his candidacy was that he was not a combatant in the long-running Baby Boomer civil war over the 1960s. He was a liberal who conservatives didn’t hate.
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