In Iowa, Hillary Clinton joins the elite club of politicians giving unsatisfying answers to DREAMers, including Rand Paul.

Hillary Clinton Joins the Elite Club of Politicians Giving Unsatisfying Answers to DREAMers

Hillary Clinton Joins the Elite Club of Politicians Giving Unsatisfying Answers to DREAMers

Weigel
Reporting on Politics and Policy.
Sept. 15 2014 12:58 PM

Hillary Clinton Joins the Elite Club of Politicians Giving Unsatisfying Answers to DREAMers

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She'd rather grill steaks.

Photo by Steve Pope/Getty Images

C-SPAN's policy of keeping cameras rolling live, even after the main political speeches are over, results in hours of video of loose chatter with the occasional ringing line. DREAMers, the immigration reform activists you might remember from such videos as "Rand Paul flees a half-eaten burger to avoid questions," were on hand in Indianola after the Harkin Steak Fry. C-SPAN recorded the confrontation. America Rising clipped their exchange.

"We wanted to know whether you stand by the president's delay on immigration," asked one activist.

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"You know, I think we have to elect more Democrats," said Clinton.

"Should we keep deporting families?" asked another activist.

Clinton had moved on.

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Much like the Libre Initiative's polling, what we have here is a Republican-oriented group soaking up schadenfreude because a Republican House and red-hatted 2014 voters have throttled a reform bill and cowed Obama out of executive action.

UPDATE: Libre's Daniel Garza responds. (I talked to Libre's Brian Faughnan for my last item about the group.)

The "broken promise" in question was Obama's pre-summer pledge to come up with a plan -- an executive action, people expected -- that would lead to fewer deportations. Obama punted last week, telling NBC's Chuck Todd that "the politics did shift midsummer," though as long ago as January the idea of the president "granting amnesty" by executive order was terribly unpopular.

I don't think I'm "slamming" Republicans, Libre, et al, by pointing out the truth. The Senate passed an immigration reform bill. The Republican House of Representatives dithered then opted not to bring up any immigration reform bill. Many voters don't know who runs either House, and the loudest activists have focused their anger on Obama's failure to use "the pen," rather than the many safe-seat Republicans who don't want to vote on a bill. See, for example, this Carmen Velasquez op-ed (3000+ shares on Facebook) that urges Latinos to "sit this election out" and make Democrats "pay a price." 

The "price" would be the defeat of several senators who voted for the immigration reform bill that activists wanted, and their replacement by Republicans who oppose what the activists wanted. Nothing negative about pointing that out.

David Weigel is a reporter for the Washington Post.