PBS ~ Obama Created Mitt Romney's Worst Day Ever

This comes via eXtina on Daily Kos... and I'm glad she brought it to light because while my husband loves PBS, I'm an MSNBC addict. So I often miss these little political gems.

Mark Shields of PBS said that Friday was  "The Worst Day of Mitt Romney's Life" because President Obama usurped him completely with his announcement about immigration.

That makes me smile. :)  Shields said:

But, very bluntly, this is the worst day of Mitt Romney's life, as the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party. Being president means that you are at a negative end when there's bad job numbers. But being president when you can take an affirmative action that makes your opponent squirm, even though it is an action that is totally consistent with where you have been in a policy sense -- and this for Mitt Romney is a character issue, because in 2008, 2012, he ran to the hard right of John McCain, of Rudy Giuliani, of Mike Huckabee there 2008, and of Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry in 2012 on the immigration.

He embraced the Arizona -- controversial Arizona state law. He said he would veto the DREAM Act. And they're looking at the fastest growing constituency in the country. And he really is scrambling now to get back.

What does Mitt Romney do? Does he reject the president's action? Does he promise to repeal it? Does he promise to honor it? Does he support legal challenges against it? He -- I thought he was terribly slow off the mark today. His answer was equivocal.
It reminded you of the 3:00 in the morning phone call. What does a president do? Is he going to have to poll his consultants when that happens? I just think this is really dangerous, dangerous territory. And the White House effectively changed the entire terms of the debate and the narrative, where they have been on the defensive and losing, and put Romney I think squarely on the defensive, where he is squirming.

Mark Gerson of Washington Post:

Romney's promise to veto the Dream Act is a serious vulnerability from this campaign. The President drove a truck through that vulnerability today. He pre-empted Marco Rubio, whose legislation he's proposing on this topic.
This smacks a little bit of the "Chicago Way" to promise a benefit to a major target group in these key states five months before an election. I think that's a risk. There's also a procedural risk that the Congress is going to be concerned about. . . . the President went around the normal procedures. . . . but it is primarily a vindication of the power of incumbancy to change the dialogue.

And on Sunday Romney is going to be interviewed on CBS by Bob Schieffer, and while we can't expect hardball questions - eXtina calls Schieffer "that marshmallow" because he is always so pro-Republican - Romney doesn't need much help to trip over his own tongue and get mired in controversy once again. Stay tuned.

Watch Shields, Gerson on the Politics of Immigration, Watergate on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.