ArcaMax

Boehner clings to his own version of an informal, unwritten rule declared by former Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois: Thou shalt not pass anything in the House with less than a majority of Republicans' votes.

That spells trouble for immigration repairs, since Republican congressmen tend to come from districts that have fewer, if any, immigrant communities that their Democratic colleagues do.

Although all sides claim to be interested in fixing at least one part or another of our broken immigration system, nothing has gotten done since the Senate bill went to the House.

Considering how the president faces more of the same for the rest of his final two years in office -- especially now that his conservative do-nothing opposition has been strengthened by mid-term election victories -- I am not shocked to see Obama declare that enough is enough.

Like most other Americans, according to polls, I'd rather see President Obama respect the traditional process of negotiating and legislating. But I'm also realistic enough to recognize the brick wall of opposition he faces -- and the shrinking amount of time that he has left in office.

How can Republicans retaliate? Boehner and other Obama critics fume that he is acting like an "emperor" and operating outside his constitutional authority. In fact, he is operating well within his authority, which only makes them more furious. But it's hard to withdraw cooperation when you haven't been cooperating very much.

Obama knows how to stay within constitutional boundaries. His executive action is modest compared to the Senate bill, which is projected to protect as many as 8 million immigrants from deportation. Obama will remove the threat of deportation for perhaps as many as 5 million. Although no previous president has taken executive action on the scale that Obama is proposing, almost all since at least the 1950s have taken similar measures on a smaller scale.

Without Congress, all the president can constitutionally offer is a temporary reprieve to millions of people who now live in a legal limbo. "Temporary" means they can live and work in the United States without fear of deportation, until this president's time in office runs out. By then, his action could be an election issue. Then the voters can decide who offers real solutions, not just more problems.

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E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@tribune.com.

(c) 2014 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.