Reply #4: I hope tackling immigration AFTER health care won't be "political suicide". [View All]

[pampango]

:)

Obama still says he will go after immigration reform this fall, what the right says about "foreigner invasions" or "socialized medicine" notwithstanding. It may be more difficult now than in 2007. The recession has decreased the flow of migrants into the US and increased the number that are leaving (plus the enforcement of employer sanctions is more effective now than then) - which might make reform easier, but it also increases the tensions felt by "native citizens" towards immigrants, as it does in almost every country during economic downturns - which might make reform more difficult than two years ago.

Perhaps Kennedy's legacy can propel us to success in two reforms, which he believed strongly in, that were on the table during the last year of his life - health care reform and immigration reform. Immigration reform will certainly be a bruising partisan battle, especially coming on the heals of another bruising partisan battle over health care reform. I hope that Obama has the stomach and political will to pursue it.