Commentary by Albert R. Hunt

March 2 (Bloomberg) -- Barack Obama, in his speech to Congress last week, painted a canvas of issues breathtaking in scope: creating jobs, rescuing banks, overhauling the health- care system, reforming education, fixing Social Security and reversing the nation’s direction on energy -- all this year.

In the 6,134-word speech, which briefly touched on Afghanistan and the Middle East, one crucial issue wasn’t mentioned: immigration.

The agenda is so full that the political circuits may be overloaded. Some argue the urgency is eroding with the deteriorating economy. The number of illegal immigrants entering the U.S. has plunged -- down to as few as 300,000 last year, or less than half what it was several years ago -- with more leaving now than arriving.

And the politics are even tougher than in the last Congress, when the bipartisan effort of Senators Ted Kennedy and John McCain and President George W. Bush exploded in emotional recriminations by Republicans and crass calculations by some Democrats. With joblessness having soared since then, it is tougher to argue that the economy needs these workers.

Still, the notion that illegal immigration can be finessed is a mirage. The problem will only get worse, and so will the politics. Obama, 47, a Democrat, would have to renege on his campaign promise to push a major immigration overhaul along the lines of the Kennedy-McCain measure in his first year.

There are industries -- agriculture, food service, construction -- that rely on immigrants. They are going through down times, yet they’ll need more people when they bounce back.

No Easy Case

That’s true of the overall economy, says Tamar Jacoby, a scholar who favors an overhaul of the immigration system.

“Immigration reform may be harder in the middle of a recession, to make the case that we need more workers,â€