Call it the Caudillo Test: It’s no longer enough for a Democratic presidential candidate to pledge to reform immigration laws. You have to pledge to end-run the nation’s elected legislature if it doesn’t go along. Good to know! …  P.S.: Hillary appears to have passed the Caudillo Test. Luckily, there is nobody general election voters trust more with unchecked power. Am I right? …  P.P.S.: Immigration activists now want Hillary to talk about amnesty as “part of her stump speech” to non-Latino audiences. In early 2015, or late 2016? I wouldn’t bet on the latter. … 

Update: Hillary’s talk makes it clear, if more clarity were needed, that the “non-citizenship” halfway house favored by Republican politicians is a non-starter — at least if the goal is to woo the Latino vote. Democrats will always be able to outbid Republicans, as Hillary did, by calling non-citizenship “second-class status” (which it is).  Arguably, the “non-citizenship” position is worse, in that respect, for Republicans. It’s one thing to tell illegals “You’re illegal, sorry.” But if you tell them they can have legal status and live here — well, what’t the basis for denying them full rights?  Because they’re brown? The implicit charge of racism, never far from the surface, becomes more plausible, not less. … Of course, if Jeb Bush or Ted Cruz ever makes it past the GOP primaries, they’ll quickly drop the non-citizenship demand (as Jeb already has, once). It’s an untenable positioner’s position. …