We’ve been expecting Barack Obama to take unilateral action on immigration for some time now. That time is drawing near. “[DHS Secretary] Jeh Johnson and [Attorney General] Eric Holder have begun to provide me some of their proposals and recommendations,” Obama explained Friday. “I’ll be reviewing them. My expectation is that fairly soon I’ll be considering what the next steps are. What I’m unequivocal about is that we need immigration reform … and in the absence of congressional action, I intend to take action to make sure that we’re putting more resources on the border, that we’re upgrading how we process these cases, and that we find a way to encourage legal immigration and give people some path so they can start paying taxes and pay a fine and learn English and be able to not look over their shoulder but be legal, since they’ve been living here for quite some time.” And just to be sure, he added, “I want to be very clear. My intention is, in the absence of action by Congress, I’m going to do what I can do within the legal constraints of my office. Because it’s the right thing to do for the country.” Since when has he been concerned with “legal constraints”?

Update: Or not. Obama announced Saturday he’d delay until after the election. Political calculation at its finest.