Such a happy scene: Republican senators grinning next to Democratic senators as though the debt-ceiling crisis, Obamacare and Sarah Palin never happened. The unifying event is a bipartisan plan to reform the immigration laws, which definitely need fixing.

And recall President Obama’s heartfelt praise of Alan Aleman, an excellent young man, brought to the United States as a child, who “felt American in every way – and he was, except for one: on paper.” Recently made a legal U.S. resident, Aleman is studying to become a doctor and may join the Air Force. Good luck to him.

What could possibly be wrong with all this smiling? It’s the concern that, amid the joy, the interests of American workers will go unnoted. Obama raises some such suspicions with his call, contrary to the Senate plan, for starting the march to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants before the border is secured and visa tracking installed. That’s not being helpful.