I wonder why he wants to do this?

Barack Obama is easily winning the African American vote, but to woo Latinos, where he is running 3-to-1 behind rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, he is taking a giant risk: spotlighting his support for the red-hot issue of granting driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.

It’s a huge issue for Latinos, who want them. It’s also a huge issue for the general electorate, which most vehemently does not. Obama’s stand could come back to haunt him not only in a general election, but with other voters in states such as California, where driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants helped undo former Gov. Gray Davis.

Actually, legal Latino immigrants do not want them. They know they did it the right way, whether they are applying for permanent citizenship, or are simply temporary workers. It tends to be Democrats who want DL’s for illegals, since they believe that will create a larger voter base, law be damned.

Obama’s intention is to draw distinctions between himself and Clinton on what are otherwise indistinguishable positions on immigration. Both have adopted the standard Democratic approach of favoring tougher enforcement along with earned legalization.

Obama made the promise to Latino leaders to take up immigration reform in his first year after Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., chairman of the Democratic caucus, said his party might not raise the divisive issue again until the next president’s second term, assuming a Democrat wins.

Latino leaders felt betrayed. For them, an immigration overhaul is a top priority in light of state and local crackdowns on illegal immigrants and federal raids in workplaces across the country.

No, illegal immigrant Latino leaders feel betrayed, and do not particularly like the US government enforcing, you know, the law.

Democratic pollsters Stan Greenberg and James Carville issued a direct warning on the driver’s license issue in an analysis last month designed to guide Democrats through the treacherous immigration quagmire.

“The findings about driver’s licenses are particularly notable,” they said. Two-thirds of surveyed voters oppose them, the pollsters found, and the safety argument fails to dent the widespread conviction that granting a driver’s license rewards illegal behavior.

Because it does, but, that is immaterial with Democrats, who want, as mentioned to increase their voter base at the expense of our laws.