Naked Pandering

Investor's Business Daily remarks the obvious - and what the mainstream media won't.

In his most brazen act of pandering to date, President Obama has dangled de facto amnesty to 800,000 illegal immigrants in a shameless bid to win Latino votes. This is pure banana-republic electoral politics.

There's zero doubt Obama's Friday order to hand work permits to hundreds of thousands of illegals who claim they were brought here as children is merely an embattled and unpopular president's bid to gain an electoral edge.

Politics trump all other factors that a responsible president would consider, such as the wisdom of dumping nearly a million new job seekers onto the market to compete for jobs with America's 26 million unemployed at a time of sky-high unemployment.

First, Democratic strategists have stated repeatedly that Obama, whose popularity is below 50% in polls, must win the Latino vote at all costs, particularly in swing states. Obama's move panders to them.

Second, it closely follows the Dream Act prescription, favored by the open-borders lobby, the one group he must please to secure the votes. The Act stalled in Congress for lack of votes amid high public opposition.