Double trouble

Folks who claim that President Barack Obama is overly consumed with political considerations have a tough riddle to solve: If politics are so all-important, why does the president keep doing things that are so politically awkward?

Specifically, why did Obama respond to his disastrous midterm election results with an executive order on immigration that he should have known would be colossally unpopular? If he’d just headed from the White House on the morning of Nov. 5 to the nearest Walmart, he could have learned all he needed to know.

I can tell you that, of course, because that’s what I do, from time to time, to ground myself in political reality. I did it again last week—and, boy, were the Walmart shoppers ready to talk! Obama would not have liked what he heard.

I’ve done these very folksy and informal surveys at least 15 or 20 times in the last 20 years—but never have I heard folks respond so lopsidedly on one side of the issue. “Tell me, please,” I would ask while waving my right hand in a shopper’s face. “If over here on this side we put up a big stop sign in front of those who want to enter the U.S. from other countries, but over here on the other side” (now I’d start welcoming them with my left hand) “we promise that we’ve got room and that we’ll find a way to take care of you—on that spectrum, where would you put yourself?”

There was no pussyfooting among my respondents. Not a single person said anything resembling a cautious “Well, I’d have to think about that.” “Let me tell you straight up,” said Elmo Faren. “I don’t mean no harm to nobody. Fact is, it may say more bad about me than it does about somebody who’s illegal. But when you’re full up, you’re full up. We’re full up. I’ve got a job, but it’s been 10 years since I’ve had anything like a real job that pays me enough to live on. Ask me—and I guess you did!—and I’ll tell you we’re headed the wrong direction.”

‘Let them follow the rules. I want them to feel welcome. But they have to do it legally.’

Ronda Brockwell played the same tune. “So,” I asked her, “what do you think of Mr. Obama’s executive order protecting 5 million immigrants from deportation? Do you have any advice for him?” “Well, he was wrong,” Ronda said. “He should be asking God for advice—and obviously, he’s not doing that.”

Indeed, in 28 short conversations with Walmart shoppers, I didn’t find a single one who was ready to defend the latest Obama pronouncements on immigration. (There was, to be sure, the attractive Hispanic family, with a full shopping cart. They knew just enough English to learn what my mission was—and then graciously argued that they were late and had to hurry on.)

I wasn’t surprised by the proportion of the other 27 who just seemed “anti-immigration.” “Enough is enough!” said Vickie Gaddy. And then she emphasized by repeating: “Enough is enough! Let’s just leave it at that.” Another shopper, who didn’t want me to use her name, said simply: “Charity begins at home, doesn’t it? We have enough serious needs right here.”

I was startled, though, by the number, certainly exceeding half, who stressed that their exception to Mr. Obama’s late November executive orders is based on what they see as an extralegal, or even illegal, process. “I’m a believer in a relatively low hurdle for those who want to come in on a legal basis,” suggested David Phelan. “But what we have right now is chaos. Let them build an orderly structure for those who want citizenship, and then follow that structure.” Jacqueline Marlowe agreed: “Let them follow the rules. I want them to feel welcome. But they have to do it legally.”

So the president, it seemed, was with a single action sticking his finger in the eyes of two huge political blocks. On the one hand, he was offending those who simply don’t want more immigration. But on the other, he was proving just as offensive to those who wouldn’t mind welcoming more outsiders—but want to achieve that end in an orderly manner.

But why alienate both groups? Where, in all this, is the always-calculating politician? What is the political benefit when even a crude sidewalk survey suggests that he’s chosen an altogether losing proposition? I just don’t get it.