He runs a reel of Republicans who have promised imminent reform — President George Bush, former congressman Eric Cantor (Va.), House Speaker John Boehner (Ohio), Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.).
At the end, Colbert interviews "Future Colbert," clad in a silver suit and patent leather, who reports that immigration reform has yet to pass in 2372.
There are plenty of Democrats who have contributed to immigration reform's current stall too; Obama's decision to postpone executive action has a lot to do with the handful of conservative Democrats facing close elections in two months, and the handful of Democratic voters most likely to cast ballot this year, utterly uninfluenced by the idea of immigration reform.
Obama didn't steal the idea of delay from Republicans; it's an golden oldie from the manual of American politics. He just did it in a particularly ham-handed way.
Making promises is an essential part of any politician's success — it's how they get elected in the first place — but it also is an easy explanation for why politicians are in America's burn book lately. Promises have a way of crashing into political reality, and success in Washington can be roughly measure by the percentage of promises an elected official manages to fulfill. On immigration reform, everyone who promised change is getting punished, whether on Comedy Central or at protests on by apathy in November, why those who promised the status quo are hoping that Obama's delay buys them a little time too.
We'll see whether it works, or whether Future Colbert is right (although his haircut is so wrong).