Immigration

Of all the forces that acted to kill immigration reform, said Julia Preston in The New York Times, there was 'œnone more effective than angry voters like Monique Thibodeaux.' After weeks of haggling, the Senate last month crafted a 400'“page bill that would have provided legal status to the country's 12 million illegal immigrants and opened the door to their eventual citizenship. Congressional Democratic leaders and President Bush threw their weight behind the bill, which seemed headed for passage. But the prospect of granting amnesty to people who illegally crossed the Mexican border infuriated ordinary citizens like Thibodeaux, who directed hundreds of thousands of angry e'“mails, faxes, and phone calls to Washington. 'œThese people came in the wrong way,' said Thibodeaux, an office manager from Detroit, 'œso they don't belong here, period.' In a stunning turnaround, the Senate buried the bill last week, at least temporarily, with 38 of 48 Republican senators voting to keep it in limbo. The message from average Americans to Washington was loud and clear, said John Derbyshire in National Review Online. 'œEnforce the law' and secure the borders.

You can blame the defeat of immigration reform on a lot of factors, said Dan Balz in The Washington Post. President Bush's political weakness is one. So is the inability of centrist Democratic and Republican leaders to keep their members from breaking ranks in the face of an organized grass'“roots campaign. The bottom line, though, is that compromise in Washington is dead. In our polarized political system, in which rabidly passionate conservative and liberal activists threaten any politician willing to make deals with the other side, 'œthe center cannot hold.' That leaves us with a political system that can no longer reach a consensus on any major issue.