Politico
declares in a headline, "House sends Obama message with immigration vote." Well, yes they did, but it might not be a message on immigration at all, as some key paragraphs in the story reveal. The message behind that vote is that the Speaker John Boehner has no more control over his members now than he did before the election.
The question is whether the vote will grease the wheels for a deal on a government-funding measure next week. Some conservatives had wanted to tie Obama’s action on immigration to a funding deal and Speaker of the House John Boehner and his allies in leadership hope the vote today will satisfy them, instead. […]
Tea party star Rep. Ted Yoho, a large-animal veterinarian from Florida, drafted the legislation. He explained it's meant to send Obama a message. […]
Even the bill's biggest supporters admit the vote is more about symbolism than substance.
When asked by a reporter whether Republicans were taking the Yoho bill seriously, Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.) replied: "I don't even know if Ted [Yoho] is."
"I think people believe that it's a very symbolic gesture," Salmon added. "Everybody knows it's going to end up in Harry Reid's drawer anyway."
Just like those 50-plus Obamacare repeal votes. Yes, the House Republicans demonstrated once again that they're really good at voting on "messages" to President Obama, but not so good at doing stuff. This is all too reminiscent of the march toward the
shutdown just over a year ago, where they were whipped by Sen. Ted Cruz into making a meaningless statement on Obamacare defunding and doing something really stupid.
The message they're really sending to Obama is that Boehner still isn't capable of leading, and that for the next two years the House is going to be as fucked up as it has been for the past four.