WASHINGTON, - Republicans in the U.S. Congress are under a "reign of terror" imposed by the party's conservative wing that also has pushed presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney to the right, President Barack Obama's senior campaign strategist said on Sunday.
David Axelrod, in an interview on CNN's "State of the Union" program, cited the Obama administration's plans for immigration reform as an example of Republican intransigence in Congress.
The political process in Washington should not be "monolithic opposition to everything the chief executive wants to do as a political strategy," Axelrod said, adding that an "implacable group of Republicans" had blocked any possibility of immigration reform.
"I think there are a lot of Republicans in Congress who want to cooperate ... but they're in the thralls of this reign of terror from the far right that has dragged the party to the right," he said.
"Governor Romney and the party have gone way off to the right," he added.
On NBC's "Meet the Press," Axelrod said that if Obama is re-elected, some Republicans would be more willing to work with him.
Axelrod said Romney, the former Massachusetts governor in line to be the Republican challenger to Obama's re-election in the Nov. 6 election, has nothing new to offer voters.
Axelrod said it would be unfair to blame the president when Republicans were unwilling to work with him on a bill and blocked passage of the DREAM Act. Obama has vowed to address reform at the beginning of his second term while both political parties jockey for the Hispanic vote.
"To say that, because you have an implacable group of Republicans in Congress who simply won't let that move, that the president hasn't kept his promise, is a bit disingenuous," Axelrod told CNN Chief Political Correspondent Candy Crowley.
He said there will be a renewed opportunity to tackle the issues "when the president wins re-election," if not before.
"I think that these folks are going to recognize when they lose this election that that was the wrong path to take and now's the time for a season of cooperation," Axelrod said.
Alex Franceschi, the Hispanic press secretary for the Republican National Committee, responded to Axelrod by pointing to the failure of the DREAM Act, which occurred when Democrats controlled both houses of Congress, as evidence of Obama's record on immigration.
"Candidate Obama promised he would make immigration reform a top priority in his first year as President. Even when he had a Democratic controlled House and Senate, we are still waiting on his immigration reform," Franceschi said. "His immigration policies have only led to record levels of deportations, and the majority of Latinos disapprove of his handling of deportations.
David Axelrod, in an interview on CNN's "State of the Union" program, cited the Obama administration's plans for immigration reform as an example of Republican intransigence in Congress.
The political process in Washington should not be "monolithic opposition to everything the chief executive wants to do as a political strategy," Axelrod said, adding that an "implacable group of Republicans" had blocked any possibility of immigration reform.
"I think there are a lot of Republicans in Congress who want to cooperate ... but they're in the thralls of this reign of terror from the far right that has dragged the party to the right," he said.
"Governor Romney and the party have gone way off to the right," he added.
On NBC's "Meet the Press," Axelrod said that if Obama is re-elected, some Republicans would be more willing to work with him.
Axelrod said Romney, the former Massachusetts governor in line to be the Republican challenger to Obama's re-election in the Nov. 6 election, has nothing new to offer voters.
Axelrod said it would be unfair to blame the president when Republicans were unwilling to work with him on a bill and blocked passage of the DREAM Act. Obama has vowed to address reform at the beginning of his second term while both political parties jockey for the Hispanic vote.
"To say that, because you have an implacable group of Republicans in Congress who simply won't let that move, that the president hasn't kept his promise, is a bit disingenuous," Axelrod told CNN Chief Political Correspondent Candy Crowley.
He said there will be a renewed opportunity to tackle the issues "when the president wins re-election," if not before.
"I think that these folks are going to recognize when they lose this election that that was the wrong path to take and now's the time for a season of cooperation," Axelrod said.
Alex Franceschi, the Hispanic press secretary for the Republican National Committee, responded to Axelrod by pointing to the failure of the DREAM Act, which occurred when Democrats controlled both houses of Congress, as evidence of Obama's record on immigration.
"Candidate Obama promised he would make immigration reform a top priority in his first year as President. Even when he had a Democratic controlled House and Senate, we are still waiting on his immigration reform," Franceschi said. "His immigration policies have only led to record levels of deportations, and the majority of Latinos disapprove of his handling of deportations.
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