The Obama-wants-the-issue-not-a-bill line plays all too easily into a Democratic strategy of maximizing bargaining leverage–i.e. ‘agree with our version of the bill or we’ll clobber you in 2014′–which is inexplicably intimidating some conservatives. Not coincidentally, pro-amnesty Republicans Like Rep. Diaz Balart also take a ”he doesn’t want to get it done,” stance–it gives them a fake anti-Obama talking point as well as potentially frightening the easily frightened. (If you buy the sensible expectation that amnesty will create more Democrats, it seems especially perverse for Republicans to declare, in effect, ”There are deeply troubling signs President Obama won’t screw us over like he promised.”)

All this leverage-building rhetoric will fall away once a bill is within sight. The Kausfiles Kabuki Warning System says: don’tbuy it. It’s much more likely that Obama wants an amnesty bill and he wants it now. That applies even to a Jeb-like bill that only legalizes illegals and leaves the creation of a “path to citizenship” for future fights. (That may actually be the best of both worlds for Obama, since it gives him irreversible legalization and a club to keep beating up Republicans with among Latino voters.)