Are those 12 million people "hiding in this country" because paranoid, xenophobic Americans fear people of different colors who speak other languages, as Obama implied? Or, are they hiding because they came here illegally? Does that matter?

By all means, let's frame the immigration debate in humanitarian terms, but preaching unity will only get us so far. Grounding the soaring spirit of e pluribus unum is a terra-firma rule of law that has to be reckoned with. And it is helpful if all concerned can read and comprehend the law.

The key to achieving that goal, obviously, is that everyone speak English. Yet, speaking at a town hall in Georgia recently, Obama said that "instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English, they'll learn English, you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish."

Americans certainly could benefit from learning other languages for numerous reasons, including job competition in a global marketplace. But such rhetoric obscures the detail that millions of immigrants do not learn English in part because government accommodation makes it unnecessary. Drop by Little Havana sometime and ask for directions.

Non-English-speaking people, meanwhile, do not fare well in this country. Rendered effectively mute by ignorance, they are condemned to menial jobs, low wages and dim futures. Immigrants need to learn the language of our government and business so that they may prosper, but also to prevent our becoming balkanized and less inclined to understand each other.

One nation under English is a necessary step toward true assimilation. Encouraging anything less, even in the name of compassion, ultimately will keep Hispanics down. And dependent -- just the way some people like them best.

Some poetry, alas, is just doggerel.