Langoria emerged from her presidential sit-down last week echoing Obama’s message — noting that the White House had pushed the Dream Act last December, only to have Republicans in Congress block the measure. Her statement only fueled the worry among some Latino activists that Obama’s immigration message is too focused on blaming Republicans for inaction, rather than trying to build a coalition himself to get a bill passed.

“It almost seems like he’s trotting in different groups to say ‘I can’t do anything,’ ” said Marisa Treviño, who writes a blog on Hispanic issues called Latina Lista.