Post-health care decision analysis from Francis Wilkinson at Bloomberg notes that the ruling might provide a short respite for Romney from his ongoing immigration debacle:
The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Democrats’ Affordable Care Act has saved the Romney campaign from its recent message muddle. Romney ran into turbulence as soon as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued an order on prosecutorial discretion that shields most young illegal immigrants from deportation.
The Republican candidate refused to say whether he would repeal the executive action as president. Then the Supreme Court issued its Arizona immigration decision, largely supporting the Obama administration while striking down most of the Arizona law. In the primaries, Romney had called the Arizona law a “model” for the nation.
Now that he’s looking to win Hispanic support — or at least deflate Hispanic support for Obama — Romney is unwilling to repeat that endorsement. But he must also be mindful of alienating the anti-immigrant supporters he motivated in the primary. As the pro-immigration group America’s Voice put it, Romney is “caught between a nativist rock and a demographic hard place.”
Romney chose to get “caught between a nativist rock and a demographic hard place.” He’s allied himself with hard-line anti-immigrant extremists like SB 1070 co-author, Kris Kobach; anti-immigrant leaders of the House Immigration Subcommittee, Rep. Lamar Smith & Rep. Steve King; Arizona Governor Jan Brewer; and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Now he’s stuck with them.
The immigration issue will be front and center over the next four months of the presidential campaign. For Romney, that’s a problem.
