As anti-immigration sentiment rises, President Obama has announced that he will send 1,200 National Guard troops to the Mexican border. He has also requested an additional $500 million from Congress for border security. But he's not convincing many pundits, who are joined in the right and left in opposition to this plan. Conservatives say it's not enough guards, liberals say that guarding the border is the wrong way to solve immigration.

• Won't Pave Way For Immigration Reform  Politico's Ben Smith sighs, "President George W. Bush sent 6,000 National Guard troops to the border when a similar mood struck in 2006, though they weren't enough then to do what the White House hopes they'll do now: Lay the groundwork for an overhaul of immigration law."

• Pure Politics   Conservative blogger Allahpundit rolls his eyes. "We've seen this movie before and it was dismal enough that I'm not real excited about the sequel. As with so many things, it's a case of The One following Bush's lead, making a show of border security in hopes of softening opposition to a comprehensive immigration bill in Congress. It almost certainly ain't happening this year, but half a bil for enforcement at least gives purple-district House Dems a talking point ahead of November."

• Fake Solution to Made-Up Problem  Liberal blogger Dara Lind writes, "If Arizonans are whipping themselves into a frenzy despite a reality that doesn't justify the hysteria, is there any indication that sending real knights to slay imaginary dragons will make them feel any safer?... I know it's naive to expect that public officials will actually do something to educate the public when the public is wrong, but this seems like a dereliction of duty to me."

• Indulging 'Paranoid, Wingnut Crap'  Liberal blogger Digby calls the basis of the move "paranoid, wingnut crap that has no bearing on reality." She adds, " But hey, ratcheting up xenophobia is so good for everyone right now, why not just pretend there's a huge problem that doesn't really exist? We don't have enough real ones apparently. After all, there are some Democrats who apparently think they need to show how much they hate Mexicans in order to win, so it's all good."

• 'Get Tough Theatre'  Conservative blogger Michelle Malkin fumes, "I called out the Bush administration and Republicans countless times when they used border security as a campaign ploy and performed Get Tough Theater only to flake out on systemic immigration enforcement reform -- and then drop the shamnesty shoe. This is no different. Both political parties in Washington reek on the issue."

• Just Complete the Dang Fence  The Weekly Standard's John McCormack merely says, "Why don't they just build a fence?"

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