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Republicans Have A Long History Of Warning Obama Against 'Poisoning The Well'

Republicans Have A Long History Of Warning Obama Against 'Poisoning The Well'
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Senior Politics Reporter, HuffPost

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Speaker of the House John Boehner(L), R-OH looks on as US President Barack Obama speaks during a bipartisan, bicameral, congressional leadership luncheon at the White House in Washington, DC, November 7, 2014. AFP PHOTO / Jim WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)

Republicans are issuing dire warnings to "Emperor Obama" that his planned executive action to grant deportation relief to millions of undocumented immigrants would "poison the well" in Congress.

Hold off until January, they say, to give Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and newly elected Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) a chance to pass a comprehensive bill that would beef up border security and fix the broken immigration system -- regardless of whether a bill doing just that already exists. Then, the logic goes, Obama will have willing and faithful partners to pass something, anything, in a Congress long mired by partisan gridlock.

But can the president "poison a well," to borrow the phrase, that's been poisoned time and time again? According to the GOP, Obama has done so repeatedly, on just about every initiative he has tried to push through Congress. Washington is swimming in poisoned well water, and has been for years.

The Democratic opposition research group American Bridge on Thursday compiled a list of the many times Republicans have warned that Obama would "poison the well" in Congress. Here's a sampling:

"It hurts. It certainly would poison the well with a lot of Republicans." -- Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), on Obama taking credit for a deal on immigration principles reached by a bipartisan group of eight senators in January 2013.

"[Obama] may have even set back the cause a bit. He’s poisoned the well for people willing to take on this issue." -- Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), on the president's 2012 executive order on immigration.

"He’s been a political cheerleader on this, and he’s poisoned the well. There’s some solutions out there, but he picked three things that really wouldn’t fix the system." -- Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), on the president's gun control push in the wake of the Newtown, Connecticut, school shooting.

"The president’s actions and attitude over the past couple of weeks have certainly poisoned the well and made it harder to work together on any issue." -- a GOP leadership aide, in response to the October 2013 government shutdown fight.

"He could have worked to reach a fair agreement, but instead he picked a fight, poisoned the well, and now we are likely to have a rather unproductive next four years. The decision he made only hurts himself." -- an unnamed GOP aide, in response to the "fiscal cliff" fight over tax rates in 2012.

"It poisons the well." -- Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), of Democratic efforts to repeal "don't ask, don't tell" in a December 2010 debate on the New START.

"There will be no cooperation for the rest of the year. They have poisoned the well in what they’ve done and how they’ve done it." -- Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), on the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010.

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Before You Go

11 Ways Immigration Reform Helps The Economy
Reform Would Help Curb The Deficit(01 of11)
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Immigration reform would reduce the federal deficit by $2.5 trillion over the next 10 years, according to an April analysis by the American Action Forum, a conservative think tank. (credit:Getty Images)
Expelling Immigrants Is Expensive(02 of11)
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Expelling the approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants currently in the United States would cost $2.6 trillion over the next 10 years, according to CNBC. That's because it costs the government more than $8,000 to deport each person. (credit:Getty Images)
Reform Would Help Fix The Social Security Problem(03 of11)
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Immigration reform would help bolster Social Security because more legal workers would mean more people contributing payroll taxes to its trust fund, according to an analysis from the Social Security administration. Undocumented workers already contribute $15 billion per year to Social Security. (credit:AP)
Immigrants Start Successful Businesses(04 of11)
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More than a quarter of technology and engineering firms started between 1995 and 2005 had a foreign-born owner, according to the Washington Post. One of the founders of Yahoo!, Jerry Yang, is an immigrant from Taiwan. (credit:AP)
Reform Would Save $410 Billion Over The Next 10 Years(05 of11)
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The immigration reform bill proposed by the "gang of eight" senators would save $410 billion over the next decade, according to an analysis from Gordon Gray, the director of fiscal policy at the American Action Forum, a conservative think tank. The savings would come largely from a boost in GDP resulting from undocumented immigrants gaining citizenship and in turn likely making more money. (credit:AP)
High-Tech Companies Say Reform Would Boost Their Bottom Line(06 of11)
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Companies like Microsoft and Google have said that immigration reform would help them by allowing for more H1B visas, a special kind of visa geared toward highly-skilled immigrants. The tech giants say they can't find enough qualified people in the U.S. to fill their staffing needs. (credit:AP)
Reform Would Boost The Wages Of Native-Born Workers(07 of11)
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U.S.-born workers see between a 0.1 and 0.6 percent boost in wages on average with an increase in immigration, according to a January report from the Hamilton Project, an economic policy initiative of the nonpartisan Brookings Institution. That's because immigrant workers bring skills with them that complement those of native-born workers, leading to new jobs. (credit:AP)
Immigrants Are Entrepreneurial (08 of11)
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Immigrants are more than twice as likely than native-born Americans to start new businesses, according to a White House report on immigration reform. (credit:AP)
Reform Would Boost GDP By More Than $1 Trillion Over 10 Years(09 of11)
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Immigration reform would boost GDP by $1.5 trillion -- or about 1 percent -- over 10 years, according to an estimate from UCLA professor Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda cited by CNBC. (credit:AP)
Immigrants Create Jobs(10 of11)
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Businesses owned by immigrants created 4.7 million jobs in the U.S. in 2007, according to a White House report on immigration reform. (credit:AP)
Reform Would Bring In More Money Than It Costs In Benefits(11 of11)
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Though many critics of immigration reform argue against the cost of providing increased public benefits, analysts say higher spending is not a likely consequence. A Congressional Budget Analysis of George W. Bush's 2007 immigration reform proposal found that it would cost the government $23 billion in more public services, but bring in $48 billion in revenue, according to the Washington Post. (credit:Getty Images)
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