Why Obama is focusing on Immigration

Bill Kristol makes this point:

This is the first major speech he has given on immigration 18 months into his administration.

He promised to introduce legislation in the first year of this two-year congressional session and there is still no legislation and no specifics in this speech. So it is a political speech, not a legislative speech. Nobody expects there to be immigration legislation this year.

The reason for the speech, the Gallup poll did an interesting breakdown. If you look at President Obama's approval rating at the beginning of the year and the end of last month, beginning of June, 2010, among African-American he has been absolutely steady 91 percent approval and 91 percent approval. Among white Americans he's been steady -- 41 percent approval, 41 percent approval.

His drop came last year. Among Hispanic-Americans this year he has dropped from 69 percent approval to 57 percent approval. He promised improvement on immigration. A lot of Hispanic-Americans care an awful lot about that. There was no movement, and he's trying to buck up his support and the Democratic Party's support among Hispanics. . . .