[Guest post by DRJ]

In Mexico today at the North American summit of the leaders of Canada, Mexico, and the U.S., Obama promised to pursue immigration reform:

“President Barack Obama said Monday he expects to have a draft immigration bill in Congress by year’s end — but that lawmakers wouldn’t begin to seriously debate the issue until next year.”

It’s not surprising that immigration would come up at a North American summit but I don’t look forward to more of the great immigration debate.

It strikes me that Obama has gone from being very proactive to very reactive. He just can’t seem to shake off campaign mode and start governing. Could it be because of his weakening poll numbers? Whatever the cause, it’s getting harder for Obama to convince Americans to follow his lead.

— DRJ

[Posted by Karl]

At the “Three Amigos” summit, Pres. Obama got a little snippy with Leftists for not doing more to help overthrown Honduran President Zelaya:

“The same critics who say that the United States has not intervened enough in Honduras are the same people who say that we’re always intervening and the Yankees need to get out of Latin America. You can’t have it both ways.”

Pres. Obama apparently had nothing to say about why his first impulse was to meddle on behalf of Zedaya, who tried to illegally amend the Honduran constitution and whose allies are thugs like Hugo Chavez, Daniel Ortega, and the Castro brothers.  He is doing the right thing now, but it would be nice if Dr. Strangelove could learn to keep the arm down.

–Karl

[Posted by Karl]

Over the weekend, Allahpundit and I became taken with Glenn Beck’s Twitter feed. I do not get the chance to watch his TV show often, but his tweets have a style all their own. Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, I spent most of the weekend learning to tweet like Beck, borrowing heavily from his account, as well as song lyrics, inspirational posters, anonymous contributions and sayings from comic books:

(more…)

[Posted by Karl]

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer attack anti-ObamaCare protesters at Congressional town halls in the USA Today:

These disruptions are occurring because opponents are afraid not just of differing views — but of the facts themselves. Drowning out opposing views is simply un-American.

Pelosi knows a thing or two about raucous protesters, and has not always considered them un-American. Since becoming Speaker, she has occasionally run into resistance from the antiwar movement generally, and Code Pink in particular. In January 2006, Pelosi got a decidedly mixed reseption at a town hall meeting in San Francisco:

Dozens of heckling, sign-toting anti-war protesters tried to take center stage at the congresswomen’s town hall forum on national security — calling for an immediate de-funding of the Iraq war and impeachment proceedings against President George Bush.

***

The protesters stood quietly in front of Pelosi waving their signs for the entire two-hour meeting, while hecklers from the audience frequently interrupted the talk.

***

But Pelosi never summoned help from police or security. She negotiated with the hecklers and at times even thanked the protesters for their advocacy and enthusiasm.

“It’s always exciting,” she told reporters after the meeting. “This is democracy in action. I’m energized by it, frankly.”

Or this incident from June 2007:

The congresswoman who hails from liberal San Francisco was introduced on Wednesday by Rep. John Murtha, a longtime Iraq war dissenter. Murtha was greeted with raucous applause, but, at the mention of Pelosi’s name, members of the antiwar women’s group Code Pink were quick to shout at her and continued to do so throughout her speech until she responded.

As Pelosi was discussing “…preserving our climate, protecting our country, growing our economy and strengthening our families as we care for our children and preserve our planet,” activists from the group interjected.

“And bring our troops home now,” a protester yelled from the crowd, following by several other “now”s.

“Preserving our planet is a national security issue…,” Pelosi said and paused. “I always say the best preparation for combat is combat,” she responded. “So just go for it, I respect your enthusiasm.”

“Your impatience with the war is justified,” Pelosi said, trying to ease tensions between those heckling her and those shushing the hecklers.

The Hill reported:

At the end of her remarks, she said, “Instead of fighting with us, which is your right to do, let’s work together.”

Pelosi would later complain about Code Pink protesters and refuse to meet with them, but that is a far cry from branding them un-American.

“Un-American” is an epithet Pelosi and other top Democrats save for the Right. Sen. Blanche Lincoln apologized for calling anti-Obamacare protests un-American, with a big whiff of political expediency. Pelosi, safely entrenched in San Francisco, has accused the GOP of being un-American time after time. It’s not difficult to find example after example of top Democrats questioning the patriotism of their opponents.

As for her attempted government takeover of the US healthcare system, Pelosi writes that “it is healthy for such a historic effort to be subject to so much scrutiny and debate,” and that “[t]he dialogue between elected representatives and constituents is at the heart of our democracy and plays an integral role in assuring that the legislation we write reflects the genuine needs and concerns of the people we represent.”

The reality is that Pelosi wanted the healthcare bill passed before the August recess and threatened to keeping the House in session through the August recess to pass its healthcare overhaul. She had no use for a dialogue between the members of her caucus and the voters who elected them.

Nor was she encouraging debate within the House of Representatives. Pelosi has run a more debate-free House than the GOP did from 199294-2006, and was willing to shut down the House to shut off debate about it. So it is no shock that Pelosi will not promise a week to review the final text of a health-care reform bill before a vote.

In sum, Speaker Pelosi is quite tolerant of disruptive protests, so long as they are on the Left. And if Pelosi is not the person most responsible for trying to shut down democratic debate on healthcare and other vital issues, she is certainly in the front row of the team photo. Is there a word for that?

–Karl