Politics

Washington Post Fact Checker: Obama Flip-Flopped On Executive Amnesty

Alex Griswold Media Reporter
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Washington Post fact checker Glenn Kessler ruled on Barack Obama’s recent claim that his “position hasn’t changed” on executive amnesty, calling it a clear flip-flop.

In the lead-up to Obama’s planned executive amnesty, observers have pointed out that on previous occasions, Obama claimed he lacked the authority to do so. “I am president, I am not king,” he once told Univision, back in 2010. “I can’t do these things just by myself.”

But Obama said last week in Australia that in those instances, he was talking about something else entirely. “When I was talking to the advocates, their interest was in me, through executive action, duplicating the legislation that was stalled in Congress,” Obama explained, “And getting a comprehensive deal of the sort that is in the Senate legislation, for example, does extend beyond my legal authorities.”

Not true, says Kessler. He points out that on no less than four occasions, President Obama was asked only about halting the deportation of illegal immigrants. In all four occasions, and as late as 2013, Obama claimed it was beyond his power to do so.

“The president has certainly been consistent on this issue — until he saw that the path through Congress was blocked,” Kessler concludes. “It’s clear from the interviews that the president was not being asked about executive orders that would have provided comprehensive immigration reform, but about specific actions that ended deportations of a subset of illegal immigrants — precisely the type of action he will shortly unveil.”

Obama recieved an” Upside-Down Pinocchio,” which according to the Fact Checker rating scale represents “[a] statement that represents a clear but unacknowledged “flip-flop” from a previously-held position.”

[h/t Washington Post]

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