Outrage over the more liberal provisions of the bipartisan immigration bill put forward last year had everyone from Harry Reid to John McCain to George Bush running for cover.
Yet here we are less than a year later and McCain is leading the GOP pack despite opponent Mitt Romney’s best efforts to paint him as soft on the issue; while on the Democratic side frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were both supporters of the compromise that granted illegals “amnesty” (what those opposed call it) or “a path to citizenship” (for those in favor). Even Clinton’s endorsement of the idea of granting driver’s licenses to those living in New York illegally caused hardly a ripple.
Of course all the candidates say border security must be the top priority, and Clinton was quick to amend her remakrs on the licensing issue. But one has to wonder whether immigration, like the war in Iraq, hasn’t taken a back seat to everyone’s concern about the economy.
Ask Congressman John Tierney, and he’ll say Bush was too quick to sound the retreat in 2007, and if not for that the bill would have passed.
On the the other hand state Rep. John Keenan, D-Salem, reports when Gov. Deval Patrick hinted recently he might issue an executive order allowing illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition at public colleges and univesities, he was flooded with calls in opposition.
