So, in other words, whatever theatrical performance Obama put on for the benefit of the other Democrats in the CHC, Cuellar is doing the president’s bidding. They want the same thing—the border kids on the next plane. For the mega-ambitious Cuellar, it’s about shoring up his support among conservatives in Texas so he can lay the groundwork a future run at governor or U.S. Senate. For Obama, who doesn’t have to worry about going before voters again, it’s about protecting Democrats in Congress by getting the border kids story off the front page and off the airwaves well in advance of Nov. 4. The only friction between the two was tied to the fact that a couple of weeks earlier, Cuellar had criticized Obama for not visiting the border.

Of course, some of the Democrats whom Obama seeks to protect on Election Day are members of the Hispanic Caucus. So in the end, even though it will put them further out-of-step with those Latino constituents who think that due process should be preserved and that the border kids should not be given the bum’s rush, we can expect all those Democratic lawmakers to fall quietly in line behind Obama, and, consequently, behind the Cornyn-Cuellar bill.

Just one big happy familia.