Why does the president hate the “undocumented”?

The Obama administration plans to announce Tuesday that it will send as many as 1,200 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to improve border security, an Arizona congresswoman said.

Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords also said in a statement released Tuesday that President Barack Obama will request $500 million in funding for border security…

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer’s spokesman said the governor hadn’t been told of the move prior to her office being contacted by The Associated Press and had no immediate comment.

We’ve seen this movie before and it was dismal enough that I’m not real excited about the sequel. As with so many things, it’s a case of The One following Bush’s lead, making a show of border security in hopes of softening opposition to a comprehensive immigration bill in Congress. It almost certainly ain’t happening this year, but half a bil for enforcement at least gives purple-district House Dems a talking point ahead of November.

Like Exurban Jon, I’m amused that Giffords wants people to believe she was the catalyst for this. Surely the credit rightfully belongs to America’s most stalwart border enforcer: Maverick.

President Barack Obama made a rare visit to a Senate Republican lunch Tuesday – and Republicans, including John McCain, took direct aim at the White House on everything from health care to border security.

Inside the lunch meeting, Obama squared off with his old rival McCain over border security, sources said. Lindsey Graham said the exchange was at times “testy,” and sources described Obama’s conversation with McCain as rather direct.

McCain said he told Obama: “We need to secure the borders first. He didn’t agree.”

Well, he agrees enough to deploy a token force down there, albeit one that’s less than half the size requested by McCain and Jon Kyl. Baby steps, maybe?

Via Dave Weigel, here’s a sneak preview of what may well be this weekend’s presidential YouTube message. I just hope The One wears the colonial wig.