We knew this, but it is still jarring to see it out there as a sort of routine fact of the political process.
Texas Republicans asserted Wednesday that President Barack Obama set back such pet causes as an immigration overhaul by emphasizing them in his State of the Union speech, because he’s so toxic to them that whatever he asks, they’ll oppose.
“He can’t move the ball on immigration. … He’s too divisive when it comes to Congress,” said Rep. John Carter of Round Rock. “If it’s Obama’s bill, it won’t get the support it needs.”
Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, echoed the view that Obama should lie low.
“The president will invariably make it harder for both sides to come together because he sort of likes baiting Republicans on this,” he said after the speech. “If he wanted to see true immigration reform, he’d lock himself in the Oval Office until Congress got it done.”
http://www.dallasnews.com/...
So, if Obama wants to get anything done, he'd better not talk about it.