The Next 26 Months 

Barack Obama is still president for the next 26 months. Starting in January, he'll have to contend with a Republican House and Senate on matters of domestic policy and spending. But when it comes to foreign policy, the Constitution grants the president tremendous authority. 

Expect America's standing in the world to continue to decline as our enemies exploit Obama's remaining time in office. It is already happening.
 

• While the media were ballyhooing Obama's "three meetings with Putin" in China, Putin was sending tanks into Ukraine and positioning long-range bombers in the Gulf of Mexico. (By the way, those "meetings" were just brief conversations in between summit sessions totaling about 20 minutes.) 
   
• Last week, the Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, answering critics of Israel's actions in Gaza, said, "I actually do think that Israel went to extraordinary lengths to limit collateral damage and civilian casualties." The general noted that the U.S. even sent a delegation to Israel three months ago to learn about limiting civilian casualties from the IDF. 

  Dempsey was slapped down immediately when a reporter pressed State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki about the Obama Administration's previous condemnations of Israeli military conduct. Psaki retorted, "It remains the broad view of the entire Administration that [Israel] could have done more and they should have taken more -- all feasible precautions to prevent civilian casualties."
   

• Three U.S. sailors were assaulted by radical Islamists in Istanbul, Turkey -- a supposed NATO ally. The attack was videotaped for propaganda purposes, and CBS accommodated the jihadists by playing it. That video is a disturbing example of what has happened to America's prestige and standing in the world. 

  The GOP's Amnesty Divide 

  The split between the big business wing of the Republican Party and the populist grassroots was on full display in the Wall Street Journal's lead editorial yesterday. The Journal began by noting that Obama's threatened executive order would damage the cause of immigration reform and his legacy. 

  But then the paper's editorial board showed why the Republican Party has such a problem. Rather than condemning Obama, the Journal excoriated the "GOP's yahoo wing" and basically told the "Steve King-Jeff Sessions blow-a-gasket caucus" to sit down and shut up.

  "The smart play," the editors tell us, "is to stay cool and keep working on the piecemeal reform. . . . If Mr. Obama follows his familiar partisan script, Republicans have a chance to stand up for the rule of law . . . by passing immigration reform the constitutional way." In other words, just give Obama what he wants. 

  The problem is not just Obama's outrageous tactics, but also the content of the so-called "reform." Americans are not clamoring for more immigration or any type of amnesty. First and foremost, they want our borders secured. 

  The rule of law demands that we actually enforce our laws against illegal immigration and stop saddling taxpayers with additional burdens. 

  Rather than attacking conservatives like Steve King and Jeff Sessions, the Wall Street Journal should be joining them in full-throated opposition to such an abuse of power. It should be encouraging members of Congress to use every tool at their disposal to stop this lawlessness. Instead, it is acquiescing to Obama's demands by encouraging a slow motion surrender. 

  GOP Vows To Fight 

  So far, Republican leaders appear to be holding their ground. During an interview with Breitbart.com yesterday, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said, "Number one, we ought to stop it at all costs and not allow the president to do it, at all costs." 

  During a meeting today with House Republicans, Speaker John Boehner reiterated his opposition to any executive amnesty. According to Politico Boehner said, "I told the president last week directly: 'If you proceed with executive amnesty, not only can you forget about getting immigration reform enacted during your presidency, you can also expect it to jeopardize other issues as well. . . .if he proceeds, we are going to fight it." 

  Stay tuned.