Democratic governors told 2 White House representatives in a private meeting this weekend that the illegal immigration lawsuit against the state of Arizona was a bad idea.

The official agenda at the summer meeting of the National Governors Association, listed the failing economy as the main topic of the meeting.  However, the governors’ concern over Obama’s immigration policy was the topic on everyone’s minds in the closed-door session between Democratic governors and White House officials and made the three-day event pretty lively.

Saturday, some Democrat governors whined about the timing of the Justice Department lawsuit, according to two governors who spoke anonymously so that there would not be any repercussions.

Gov. Phil Bredesen of Tennessee, a Democrat, said:

Universally the governors are saying, ‘We’ve got to talk about jobs.’   And all of a sudden we have immigration going on.

It is such a toxic subject, such an important time for Democrats.

Obama and his administration seemed to be trying to make a deal on Sunday.   Homeland Security Secretary Janet “Big Sis” Napolitano was supposedly in town to give the governors a classified national security briefing.  While there, she had a private meeting with Jan Brewer, the  Republican who (thankfully) succeeded her as governor of Arizona.

 While that meeting was going on, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. threatened on one of the Sunday talk shows that the Justice Department could bring yet another lawsuit against Arizona if there is evidence that the immigration law leads to racial profiling.

Go ahead, double down, Obama.  Let’s see if you can get the whole country to completely despise you.

Gov.  Brewer reported that she and Big Sis did not discuss the lawsuit. Instead,they had a “cordial” conversation about Arizona’s request for more National Guard troops along the border with Mexico, as well as other resources.  Uh Huh.

The Democrats’ get-together exposed the tensions between the White House and states over the lawsuit, filed by the DOJ last week in federal court in Phoenix.  There are nineteen Democratic governorships in play this year. Republicans wish to use those positions as tools for leverage in the 2012 presidential race.

The lawsuit contends that controlling immigration is a federal responsibility.

Republican governors at the Boston meeting also jumped on the lawsuit, saying it interfered with states’ rights.  They also voiced their support for Gov. Brewer.

Gov. Dave Heineman of Nebraska, a Republican seeking re-election, said:

I’d be willing to bet a lot of money that almost every state in America next January is going to see a bill similar to Arizona’s. 

 However, the trepidation of Democratic governors, seven of whom are seeking re-election,was palpable.

Per Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. of Colorado, a Democrat who had to pull out of his re-election bid because he was losing in an embarrassing fashion :

I might have chosen both a different tack and a different time.  This is an issue that divides us politically, and I’m hopeful that their strategy doesn’t do that in a way that makes it more difficult for candidates to get elected, particularly in the West.

The White House did not confirm reports of complaints from some Democratic governors.

The president’s senior adviser, David Axelrod,  re-affirmed on Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the president remained committed to passing an immigration overhaul, and that addressing the issue did not mean he was ignoring the economy.

Axelrod hastily added:

That doesn’t mean we can’t have a good, healthy debate about the economy and other issues.

Obama talked about the economy last week during campaign stops in Kansas City and Las Vegas, and has been hypocritically calling on Congress to offer additional tax relief to small businesses as a cover for the outrageous taxes that will hit all of us as a result of Obamacare and his elimination of tax cuts.

The heads of Scooter’s national debt commission,  Alan K. Simpson and Erskine B. Bowles, were on hand at the conference Sunday to talk about America’s economy.

America’s total federal debt next year is expected to exceed $14 trillion. Mr. Simpson, a former Republican senator from Wyoming, and Mr. Bowles, a Democrat and the White House chief of staff under President Bill Clinton, foretold a bleak future if spending is not brought under control even more.

 Mr. Bowles said:

This debt is like a cancer.  It is truly going to destroy the country from within.

As important as our economic situation is, the issue of illegal immigration was in the forefront of this weekend’s conference.

Gov. Brewer, called the lawsuit “outrageous”.  She added that the state was receiving donations from around the country to help fight it.

Gov. Brewer also said:

I think Arizona will win.  And we will take a position for all of America.

Democratic governors and the two White House officials, Patrick Gaspard, Obama’s political director, and Cecilia Munoz, director of intergovernmental affairs did not just discuss immigration.  But several governors, including Christine Gregoire of Washington, said it was a particularly heated issue.

Gov. Gregoire, who is not up for re-election, complained that the White House was doing a poor job of showing the American public that it was working on the problem of illegal immigration:

They described for me a list of things that they are doing to try and help on that border.  And I said, ‘The public doesn’t know that.’ 

We’ve got a message void, and the only thing we’re hearing is that they’re filing a lawsuit.

Several Democrats and a few RINOs were calling for Congress to pass an immigration policy overhaul this year.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana, a Democrat opined:

There are 535 members of Congress.  Certainly somebody back there can chew gum and hold the basketball at the same time. This is not an either-or.

Gov. Bill Richardson, Democrat from New Mexico, and part of the Democrat “in-crowd” praised the Justice Department’s lawsuit, saying his fellow Democrats’ concerns were “misguided.”

Gov. Richardson, who is Hispanic and will be driven out of office this year by term limits, said:

Policy-wise it makes sense.  And Obama is popular with Hispanic voters and this is going to be a popular move with them nationally.

Gov. Martin O’Malley of Maryland, a Democrat who voiced apprehension about the lawsuit in the private meeting, according to the two anonymous informants, said something quite different in public:

The president doesn’t have control over some of the timing of things that happen.  When those things arise, you can’t be too precious about what’s in it for your own personal political timing or even your party’s timing. When matters like this arise, I think the president has to take a principled stand.

Gov. Bredesen said that in Tennessee, Democratic candidates, in the middle of a tight race, were already on the defensive about the federal health care overhaul, and the suit against Arizona further weakened them. According to Bredesen, Democratic candidates are already “disavowing” the immigration lawsuit:

Maybe you do that when you’re strong.  And not when there’s an election looming out there.”

Mr. Ritter of Colorado said he wished the Justice Department had waited to sue Arizona until after the law went into effect, to give the public a chance to see how difficult it would be to enforce:

It’s just an easier case to make.  I just think that law enforcement officers are going to have a terribly difficult time applying this law in a constitutional way.

Thinking like that is why you’re out of a job, Gov. Ritter.

The overwhelming majority of Americans, in poll after poll, support Arizona and their new illegal immigration law.  For Obama and his DOJ to file their ill-advised lawsuit and threaten another one is both ignorant and arrogant:  Intentionally ignorant to the wishes of the American people and arrogant to believe that there will not be a price to pay at the polls in November.

Sources:  drudgereport.com, nytimes.com