Immigration reform is, by common consensus, dead in the water.
What makes them think immigration reform will be any easier to push through after Obama leaves office? Are they expecting a republican to be in office?
Essentially, there's three issues in play.
First, there's not enough time to settle the issue this Congressional term due to the upcoming summer recess and the need for a fair bit of "housecleaning" legislation after this. Once the midterms are done, the battle for 2016 will begin in earnest, and the Republicans aren't going to want to bend on anything (absent a massive push by their voter base) out of fear of looking like they're bending to pressure.
Second, Obama is a uniquely attackable President. He isn't particuarly personable in the way that Clinton and Bush were, coming across more like a stern, distant father than a jovial uncle. The Affordable Care Act has been blasted from both sides (the Right claim it goes to far, the Left say it stops far too short.) The 'birthers' have sowed enough doubt among certain segments of the electorate to cause trouble even though the movement is dead, and the race issue cannot be neglected (again, this is a problem from both sides. A lot of Democrats, particularly black Democrats, wanted and expected more from our first black president, while it is a sad fact that the Republican voter base is largely in a demographic where racism is still prevalent.) The GOP has made heavy use of this in campaigning for lesser elections, but this is biting them in the ass now when it comes to getting anything done, as the hardline faction they've fed and fostered now is ready to crucify them if they go "soft". Our next President, even if it's Clinton, won't have that baggage in anywhere near as great a quantity.
Finally, since both parties consider reform to be in their best interests, as the Dems want to keep their solid Latino voting block, while the Republicans desperately want to capture some of it, it's likely to sail through under the next administration without much fuss, no matter which side wins.
Poll
7 (6.5%)
Author
Topic: Bay12 Election Night Watch Party (Read 838520 times)