Obama to hispanics: "Punish our enemies"

Obama Kenyatta, America's first non-American president, encouraged his fans to dance the electoral ranchera.

And if Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, we're gonna punish our enemies and we’re gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us, if they don’t see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election, then I think it’s gonna be harder and that’s why I think it’s so important that people focus on voting on November 2. [. . .]

 He proudly proclaims he'll do anything in his power to undermine immigration enforcement:

What my administration has done is actually change our priorities because you mentioned that there are a lot of families out there, but the truth is, it’s actually that the way we’re now enforcing the law puts less emphasis on families, more emphasis on those with criminal records and so the big increase in deportations has actually to do with people with criminal records who’ve been engaging in illegal activity, not just because they don’t have papers, but because they’ve been engaging in criminal activity.

But the most important thing that we can do is to change the law because the way the system works — again, I just wanna repeat, I’m president, I’m not king. If Congress has laws on the books that says that people who are here who are not documented have to be deported, then I can exercise some flexibility in terms of where we deploy our resources, to focus on people who are really causing problems as a opposed to families who are just trying to work and support themselves. [. . .]

Presidents are politicians, and no one expects them to be above the fight. It's in their contract that they're to bat for their party and lash the others. But it is chilling that a president, addressing one ethnic group, labels the opposition "our enemies." Meaning, Republicans are enemies of hispanic voters and vice versa.

It is modest of Obama Kenyatta to acknowledge that he is president, not king. But boasting that he is doing what he can to subvert the law tilts him more toward the kingly side. Nothing in the Constitution or, I reckon, the immigration laws gives the president the "flexibility" to decide which parts of it to enforce and which to sabotage. (Yes, his predecessor was just as arrogant on that score.)

In a republic, which the United States was designed to be ("if you can keep it," as Ben Franklin noted), government officials including presidents are supposed to be public servants. Some of the founders even hoped that there would be no political parties. A republic can survive party politics, as we have demonstrated. It is less clear whether it can survive the propagation of a value system in which a president can refer to the other party as the "enemies" of an ethnic voting bloc. 

We are approaching a constitutional crisis the likes of which hasn't been seen since the years preceding the War Between the States. Part of that is due to a president who understands campaigning but not governing.