E.J. Dionne makes a good point here, one that I had not considered as I have been plodding through the 680 page “Immigration Bill”. That being, the President is on board with immigration reform, and it is in the Democrats best interest to make the necessary changes in a bi-partisan manner and get a bill passed. Let the President take the beating during the debate, losing more of his base…it’s Bush’s Immigration Reform Bill and if we do not get something passed, I assure you the country will demand that the new Administration in ‘08 get something done. It no doubt will be even a bigger mess, and what Administration wants to deal with that when they first hit the ground.

The opportunity for Bush is to get credit for a major achievement at a moment when — well, let’s just say he could use one right now. His party could share in the triumph and stanch the flow of Latino votes the Democrats’ way.

Just about everybody has a problem with parts of this bill. But just about everybody has an even bigger problem with the status quo. My hunch is that the politics of opportunity have a slight advantage over whatever agony may be called forth by this imperfect compromise.