When President Barack Obama announced his administration would not deport illegal immigrants under 30 years of age who came to the country as children, he “bigfooted” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who had been working behind the scenes in Congress on immigration and was ready to introduce his DREAM Act-lite bill.

In more ways than one, Obama’s action was a political ploy, designed to cater to Hispanic voters while blunting the influence of Rubio. At a Christian Science Monitor breakfast on Thursday, Rubio said if Obama were serious about immigration reform, he or his advisers would have consulted with him instead of essentially undercutting his bill that was in the works. 

“If you’re really serious about finding a solution to this problem, don’t you work with the people who are interested in this?” Rubio said, in comments picked up byThe Hill. 

Rubio, according to reports, said he thought Obama “injected election year politics into an issue that privately I thought we were making progress on” and Obama’s executive action “shows that they’re not really serious about finding a bipartisan solution” and only “interested in a talking point.”

Anticipating a close election because his policies have been responsible for a horrendous economy, Obama is trying to slice and dice every piece of the electorate to maximize political gain. But these short term political maneuvers do the presidency -- and the country -- no good.