Political strategy lessons from people who get it done

Julia Preston's front pager on Saturday about the "Dreamers" who have played a huge part in changing the politics on immigration in the last few years is an inspiring read. I particularly like the moment when the White House freaks out because Marco Rubio is going to do better than them.

United We Dream pushes for what it wants, and seems to have little interest in an inside game. One bit from the article:

In a Washington church (since illegal immigrants could not enter the White House), Valerie Jarrett, the president’s senior adviser, and Cecilia Muñoz, the domestic policy adviser, insisted that Mr. Obama had no legal authority to issue an order granting deportation protection.

“With all due respect,” Ms. Praeli replied, “I disagree.”

So, the White House doesn't usually like it when people go tell the New York Times what was said in a conversation that they wanted to be private. Especially in cases where it makes the White House look not good, like this one.

The White House will be rather unhappy about this part of the article, among others. But when you're not playing an access game in the first place, that doesn't necessarily matter. In fact, in this case, it's almost certainly a plus.