Mitt Watch: What Is Romney's Position On The Immigration Order?

June 17th, 2012

It's anyone's guess.

Today, on CBS' "Face The Nation," Mitt Romney was asked a direct yes or no question about whether or not he would repeal the new Obama administration policy on immigration. He dodged. So, he was asked again. He squirmed. So, host Bob Schieffer asked him again. And again. And again. He was asked a full five times. Not once did he give a yes or no answer.



I am sure this provided great solace to those far-right pundits and activists, already wary of Romney's slippery history, who have all but declared the new policy of prosecutorial discretion to be an act of treason.

Sleep tight, far right. You helped paint him into this corner.

There's really no way of knowing what Romney believes. I increasingly suspect, as frightening as it is, that he believes in nothing at all.

Members of his team, on the other hand, have some absolutely firm views on the matter. They just don't remotely seem to agree with one other.

Judd Legum writes:

"In an interview on Friday, Kris Kobach, an immigration advisor to the Romney campaign, told ThinkProgress that the new Obama policy was "illegal." Another Romney advisor told CNN that Romney’s position was "the same" as President Obama."

This is what we call message-failure. It's been two full days since the announcement of a major new policy initiative from the incumbent and the challenger has no clear response to the most obvious question everyone knew he would be asked. Meanwhile, his immediate advisers have failed to coalesce around a single non-contradictory position.

The bottom line? Romney is going to have to actually commit. He has to tell us all what he will do if he's elected. Will he repeal the policy outright or will he leave it in place while he formulates his own approach?

Either way, he will have to displease someone. If he can't handle that, he shouldn't be running.