NEW YORK -- Scene: An elevator in New York Presbyterian Hospital where several others and I were temporary hostages of a filthy-mouthed woman who was profanely berating her male companion.

At a time when more than 13.9 million Americans are out of work and millions more have quit looking, the craven geniuses in Washington, D.C., have a brilliant two-prong solution: import more immigrant workers and block the deportation of illegal aliens already here.

It's a poor economic plan, and not much of a re-election strategy unless Democrats can get those folks registered to vote. But the president and his handmaidens in Congress are pushing ahead.

As he and his daughters bicycle around the summer playground of the Northeastern elite, Martha's Vineyard, President Obama is steadily bleeding away both the support of the nation and that of his most loyal constituency.