Is this use of “on” really off?

Q: I recently encountered a sentence about the need for “state and local leadership on immigration.” This use of “on” strikes me as lazy and inconsiderate of syntax. It’s probably permissible in conversation, but not in edited writing. Or am I wrong? A: The preposition “on” has been used by respected writers since Anglo-Saxon days to mean about or concerning, and the usage is recognized by all eight standard dictionaries we regularly consult. The Oxford English Dictionary, an etymological reference, defines this sense of “on” as “with reference to, as regards; concerning, about.” Here’s an OED citation from the Old English Boethius, a late ninth- or early tenth-century translation of De Consolatione Philosophiae (“The Consolation of Philosophy”), a Latin treatise by the Roman philosopher Boethius: “Hwæt godes magon we seggan on þa flæsclican unþeawas” (“What good may we say on the fleshly vices?”). The preface in one of two early manuscripts of the work identifies King Alfred as the…