President Obama didn't just encourage House Republicans to act on immigration, he also challenged them to be smart about the bipartisan policy.
Following up on an earlier item, President Obama spoke this morning on the need for House action on immigration reform, and summarized the political context nicely:
"Obviously, just because something is smart and fair and good for the economy and fiscally responsible and supported by business and labor and the evangelical community and many Democrats and many Republicans -- that does not mean that it will actually get done. This is Washington after all.
"So everything tends to be viewed through a political prism and everyone's been looking at the politics of this. And I know that there's some folks in this town that are primed to think, 'Well if Obama's for it then I'm against it.' But I'd remind everybody that my Republican predecessor was also for it when he proposed reforms like this almost a decade ago.... I'm not running for office again. I just believe this is the right thing to do. I just believe this is the right thing to do."
