Financial Times Editorial - A legacy for Bush
Financial Times Editorial - A legacy for Bush
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Published: January 29 2007 02:00 | Last updated: January 29 2007 02:00
President George W. Bush may have lost much of his power base in the last election - but paradoxically, in the process, he may have gained a legacy. Much of the programme he outlined in last week's State of the Union message seems unattainable: on Iraq or healthcare or global warming, it is hard to imagine the newly empowered Democrats handing Mr Bush many triumphs.
For power in Congress is divided by only a hair's breadth: that fact could force the two sides to compromise - but with the 2008 presidential election already looming implausibly large on the horizon, it is more likely to force Congress into gridlock.
Still, there is one ray of hope in this vision of partisan paralysis - immigration reform, one of Mr Bush's favourite issues but also one on which there is already a large measure of bipartisan consensus. Mr Bush has been pleading for reform virtually since he became president and last week he urged Americans once again to "uphold the great tradition of the melting pot" and tackle the problem of illegal immigration. This week Senate sub-committee hearings on the issue will begin and legislation could be introduced in the Senate to tackle the problem within a month or so.
The last election improved the chances of a compromise on this issue. For the clear message of that poll was that a hard line on immigration does not win many votes. The anti-immigrant platform of some Republicans clearly lost the party votes among Hispanic-Americans, whom Republicans need to cultivate for the future of their party. The shift in power to the Democrats has removed some immigration hardliners from positions of power where they could block bipartisan progress.
That does not mean success on the issue is a slam-dunk certainty: far from it. Democrats have said they will need a large chunk of Republicans in the House to vote with them or there will be no deal. There are still many areas of disagreement: how can the 12m illegal immigrants already living in America be legalised, without inviting more immigrants to enter illegally in future, hoping they too can become legal after the fact? US businesses are worried that the burden of enforcing new immigration rules will fall largely on them: will they have to verify the legal status of all workers, including arm's-length contractors?
Whatever the hurdles, Congress should not waste this opportunity to strike a historic deal that will guarantee an adequate flow of legal workers to staff the US economy (especially as baby boomers begin retiring next year) and give millions of hard-working immigrants a legal path to the American dream. Time is short: by autumn, presidential politicking may blight all hope of progress. Now is the moment for Congress to give American voters what they say they want: bipartisanship - on this issue, if nowhere else.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Published: January 29 2007 02:00 | Last updated: January 29 2007 02:00
President George W. Bush may have lost much of his power base in the last election - but paradoxically, in the process, he may have gained a legacy. Much of the programme he outlined in last week's State of the Union message seems unattainable: on Iraq or healthcare or global warming, it is hard to imagine the newly empowered Democrats handing Mr Bush many triumphs.
For power in Congress is divided by only a hair's breadth: that fact could force the two sides to compromise - but with the 2008 presidential election already looming implausibly large on the horizon, it is more likely to force Congress into gridlock.
Still, there is one ray of hope in this vision of partisan paralysis - immigration reform, one of Mr Bush's favourite issues but also one on which there is already a large measure of bipartisan consensus. Mr Bush has been pleading for reform virtually since he became president and last week he urged Americans once again to "uphold the great tradition of the melting pot" and tackle the problem of illegal immigration. This week Senate sub-committee hearings on the issue will begin and legislation could be introduced in the Senate to tackle the problem within a month or so.
The last election improved the chances of a compromise on this issue. For the clear message of that poll was that a hard line on immigration does not win many votes. The anti-immigrant platform of some Republicans clearly lost the party votes among Hispanic-Americans, whom Republicans need to cultivate for the future of their party. The shift in power to the Democrats has removed some immigration hardliners from positions of power where they could block bipartisan progress.
That does not mean success on the issue is a slam-dunk certainty: far from it. Democrats have said they will need a large chunk of Republicans in the House to vote with them or there will be no deal. There are still many areas of disagreement: how can the 12m illegal immigrants already living in America be legalised, without inviting more immigrants to enter illegally in future, hoping they too can become legal after the fact? US businesses are worried that the burden of enforcing new immigration rules will fall largely on them: will they have to verify the legal status of all workers, including arm's-length contractors?
Whatever the hurdles, Congress should not waste this opportunity to strike a historic deal that will guarantee an adequate flow of legal workers to staff the US economy (especially as baby boomers begin retiring next year) and give millions of hard-working immigrants a legal path to the American dream. Time is short: by autumn, presidential politicking may blight all hope of progress. Now is the moment for Congress to give American voters what they say they want: bipartisanship - on this issue, if nowhere else.
posted by Carlos T Mock at 9:36 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home