Why is Obama pushing an agenda that has zero chance of being enacted?
Because it boxes in the GOP. If they obstruct his agenda they hurt themselves with the voters in 2016.
It was a very smart move on Obama's part because it set the bar that the GOP must meet or be judged a failure. No wonder they were so ticked off afterwards.
Yepp. Absolutely.
Once again, we have the case where the President acts, the GOP "kneejerkingly" reacts.
With some EOs, the President has now forced the issue of Immigration Reform, and I am quite sure that the Latino community is watching how this plays out with GREAT interest. The GOP is now pretty much fucked, because if it shows even the slightest willingness to even compromise, then it loses it's ultra racist, ultra bigoted Conservative base, which is now prolly the majority of the circa 25% of Americans who identify as Republicans.
In addition, President Obama's chess move vis-a-vis Cuba opens a can of worms for the GOP, most of all in Florida, which has a huge contingent of Cuban-Latinos who have been waiting for years for this moment. Badmouth the re-opening of relations to that small Island and risk permanently losing the Cuban-Latino vote in Florida permanently. The GOP just lost the Cuban vote in Florida in the 2012 GE, for the first time in recorded polling history where Latinos were also part of the surveys. If the GOP loses Florida and it slowly becomes part of the Blue Wall, then things look very bleak for the GOP on the presidential level for many years to come. And I mean - many.