Is Obama's Arizona suit 'toxic' for Dems?

Some Democratic governors think the White House's battle over Arizona's immigration law will cripple the party in this fall's midterm elections

Barack Obama.
(Image credit: Getty)

At a private White House meeting this weekend, a group of Democratic governors expressed "deep anxiety" about the Obama administration's lawsuit against Arizona's new immigration law and its effects on the November election. "It is such a toxic subject," Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen tells The New York Times. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, however, says the suit "makes sense" policy-wise, and will help Democrats win over Latino voters. With a majority of Americans in support of the Arizona law, should the Obama administration have waited until after November to put forth a challenge? (Watch a Fox discussion about Arizona and the 2010 elections)

Obama has dropped the ball on this one: "The White House is clearly on the wrong side of this issue," says Doug Mataconis in Outside the Beltway. While the Arizona law "may very well be unconstitutional," polls have repeatedly shown that "a large majority of Americans" support it. Obama has treated the issue "as an academic debate without political consequence," whilst failing to put forward "any real immigration policy" of his own. Sorry, Mr. President, but "that strategy isn't going to work."

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