You might want to sit down before reading this. The progressive Century Foundation has published a report on Barack Obama’s most influential executive actions, and it compares his executive order granting amnesty to millions of illegals to Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation:
The report offers the Emancipation Proclamation, which ended slavery in America, as a precedent for Obama to go around a gridlocked Congress through executive action.
“Presidents from George Washington onward have done so, and in fact, some of the nation’s greatest moments have been marked by bold executive action — clearly the most memorable of which is the Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, at a time when our nation was much more divided than it currently is,” wrote Century Foundation president Mark Zuckerman, one of the authors of the report.
Because clearly coming to this country of your own will and living illegally — but freely — is comparable to being brought here against your will and forced to toil under the binds of slavery.
Oh, and by the way — there’s evidence that Obama’s amnesty would hurt black Americans the most.
The report also praises Obama for his excessive use of his pen and phone:
Obama is not overstepping his authority, the report concludes. It praises Obama for “going it alone” to establish new protections for illegal immigrants, LGBT workers and the environment, as well as raising the minimum wage for federal contractors.
The report blames an “obstructionist Congress” for forcing Washington into gridlock that has left Obama with no choice but to accomplish his policy agenda through executive action.
“President Obama is not overusing his pen,” Zuckerman wrote. “If anything, he is making up for lost time.”
“Policymaking through bold executive actions is the new normal in Washington, D.C.,” he added.
The Century Foundation obviously doesn’t speak for the nearly 60% of Americans who don’t believe Obama has the executive authority to grant blanket amnesty.
