Via ColdWarrior at Red State, the whole clip’s worth watching but skip ahead to three minutes in for the money bit. Does any term of art exist to describe a revelation that’s shocking in one sense and yet not at all surprising in another? (“Kinsleyan gaffe” is in the ballpark, but that’s not quite what this is.) Of course The One won’t do anything about the border until he gets some political cover from Congress on amnesty; his party wants to build a heavy Democratic majority among Latinos long-term and he’s not going to mess that up. What’s stunning is simply the fact that he’d be so candid, to a member of the opposition no less, in admitting his dereliction of duty. Sure, he could fulfill his constitutional responsibility and try to enforce federal law — but what good will that do him politically? If Congress wants to see some action at the border, they need to make it worth his while. And you thought the BP deal was a “shakedown.”

Painful exit question: Isn’t this yet another example of Obama carrying on Bush’s policies? Dubya might not have been as blunt about the reason for his own poor track record on border enforcement, but let’s not kid ourselves.