By now, I'm sure you've seen photos of President Obama playing pool and drinking beer in Denver last night. Understandably, they give off the distinct impression that he doesn’t care -- or at least doesn't mind giving off the impression that he doesn’t care -- about the rapidly deteriorating situation at the US southern border. How else to explain photos such as these?
Democrats, meanwhile, are lamenting the president’s absence and blithe indifference to this crisis as much as anyone. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), for example, has already been admonished by the White House to tone down his criticisms of the president over immigration-related and border security issues. But apparently such warnings are -- and will continue to go -- unheeded. The photos were a bridge too far.
That’s why in an interview today on MSNBC he blasted the president for saying he’s “too busy” to visit the border when, of course, everybody knows that’s a bald-faced lie:
Calls will only grow louder for President Obama to pay Border Patrol agents and humanitarian workers alike a visit. And, while it may be politically expedient for him not to, he may no longer have a choice.