So what has changed now that Governor Kulongoski has issued his executive order regarding driver licenses? Not a thing, apparently, at least not right away.

The announcement from the governor's office tried hard to beat around the bush on the issue if illegal immigrants, but it was clear on one thing:

"The new rules will not go into effect immediately as it will take the DMV several months to implement the changes."

What's the use of an executive order to do something if nothing actually happens? Especially if nothing happens for so long that the legislature is going to meet again before anything does have a chance to happen?

The governor gives an order and several months ago by to carry it out. Let's hope he never has to give an executive order in an emergency.

To be fair, there is no blazing emergency in this case. But if not, then why not wait for the legislature to act when it meets in February?

There's something else odd about this order. The governor's office says that once the DMV bestirs itself and drafts new rules for getting driver licenses, these rules "will be presented for for adoption by the Oregon Transportation Commission."

What if the commission does not adopt them? What if the members, though appointed by the governor, show some independence and decide that these new rules are either unnecessary or wrong? What happens to the executive order then?

Aside from these quibbles, there is this main question: What will be the result of the order if and when it is carried out? The way it sounded it will mean that illegal immigrants who don't already have licenses can't get them from the DMV and will have to buy fake ones instead.

But the governor's office didn't want to come right out and say that it was aiming at illegal aliens. In a question-and-answer sheet accompanying Friday's press release on the order, here's what it says:

Question: "Will this make Oregon a state in which an applicant needs to prove legal presence in the U.S. in order to get a driver license, driver permit or identification card?"

Answer: "Not explicitly. ... This executive order is not about legal presence."

Question: "But will persons who cannot prove legal presence in the U.S. still be able to get driver licenses or identification cards in Oregon?"

Answer: "Not likely. ..."

Why this weaseling? Why not admit it? Yes, as the governor's office explains elsewhere in its answers, the plan is intended to crack down on criminal gangs that ship illegals to Oregon from other states in order to get driver licenses here.

There's nothing wrong with cracking down on crime of that or any other sort. So why not crack down now, rather than take months to write new rules?