Six years into his administration, President Obama has apparently not given up on the "hope" that was a major theme of his first run for president.
What else but undying optimism could explain the president's hope for the Texas congressional delegation expressed in his visit to their state this week.
Speaking of his conversation with Republican Texas Gov. Rick Perry, in which the president asked the governor to lobby that delegation on behalf of the $3.7 billion in additional funding to address the border crisis, the president said:
"I urged the governor to talk to the Texas delegation, which is obviously at the heart of the Republican caucus both in the House and has great influence in the caucus in the Senate. If the Texas delegation is in favor of this supplemental — which, by the way, does not include some things that I know many of them object to around dealing with undocumented workers who have been in this country for quite some time — this is just a very narrow issue, this supplemental, in terms of dealing with the particular problem we have right now — if the Texas delegation is prepared to move, this thing can get done next week."
That has a snowball's chance in Houston of happening, of course. The influential Texas delegation members have made few statements suggesting that they are prepared to support the president's emergency funding request.
Instead, they blame the president for the crisis, saying his 2012 executive action that allowed some young people in the U.S. illegally to remain is a magnet for the surge. They also accuse him of not securing the border.
Rep. Pete Sessions, chair of the powerful House Rules Committee, reflected the view of other House Republicans in a statement Thursday:
"Yesterday President Obama stopped in Dallas where he discussed the ongoing crisis at the border and his ideas for how to solve it. Unfortunately, the problem is one of his own doing and his so-called solutions are not sufficient to put an end to this crisis. Instead of proposing productive solutions, President Obama has requested $3.7 billion dollars to enforce policies that have not worked. Instead of throwing more money at the problem, we should solve our underlying problems at the border and put an end to this crisis once and for all."