Obama's Incoherent Immigration Speech

I count three ways President Barack Obama's speech on immigration last night contradicted itself.

First, there was the absolutist language he used to justify his policy -- coupled with restrictions that aren't compatible with such language. The argument Obama made for his policy of offering legal status to millions of illegal immigrants was highly moralistic: We're not supposed to rip apart families, we can't deny people "a chance to make amends" and so forth. But you don't qualify for the new forbearance if you've only been here a short time, or are coming here tomorrow. No chance to make amends for tomorrow's illegal immigrant.