Excerpt
Gail Collins: David, can we talk about immigration reform? This is not a subject on which we get a whole lot of sensible behavior, so whenever you do see a legislator going out of his or her way to try to solve the problem you have to offer a certain respect. I really did respect John McCain for working with Edward Kennedy to come up with a sane bill in 2007, and it did cost him politically. Although not a whole lot in the end, what with his being nominated for president and all.
I’m not an expert on this issue, but immigration seems to be one of those problems, like fixing Social Security financing or the Israeli-Palestinian stand-off, in which most reasonable people agree on the solution, but not how to make it happen. Employers have to be stopped from hiring illegal workers; the borders have to be made less porous and there has to be some way for people who are already here illegally to earn citizenship.
This year, Lindsey Graham was the one who played the McCain role — not just on immigration but also on global warming, another issue that used to be a McCain badge-of-courage. And Graham has suffered for it mightily. He’s been the target of some loathsome personal attacks by the anti-immigration crowd.
David Brooks: As far as I’m concerned Graham is the bravest politician in the country, bar none. When I get depressed about the nature of politics these days and am looking at the bottom of my nightly bottle of tequila (O.K., I’m exaggerating), I lift a glass to the voters of South Carolina and thank them for sending this guy to Washington. If every senator were like Graham, this country would be in excellent shape.
Gail Collins: Meanwhile, there’s John McCain. He throws his support behind a terrible Arizona law that would put the burden for enforcing the immigration laws on local police officers, who don’t have the capacity — or in most places, the desire — to do the job. And Hispanic Americans are reasonably terrified of being targeted with racial profiling.
David Brooks: I’m completely with you on that one. The Arizona law is an invitation to abuse. You’re asking the government to make a series of decisions with inherently racial content. Then you’re asking that the decision be made at the worst possible level — by a harried cop on the beat in the middle of God knows what stresses. The outcome is bound to be terrible.
No comments:
Post a Comment