Reform on Life Support or Dead?

As my co-blogster Kevin Johnson has reported, the Senate reform appears to be on life support. Carolyn Lochhead, of the San Francisco Chronicle, thinks its dead. She also reminds us that this may be a blow to the legacies of President Bush and Ted Kennedy:

The failure is a major defeat for Bush, who passionately supported the effort to open the country to more legal immigration, saying recently, “America must not fear diversity,” and dispatching two Cabinet secretaries to the months of negotiations.

Untethered from re-election concerns, Bush attacked his Republican base for failing to support the bill, but found he had no leverage left with his own party.

The failure is also a major defeat for Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, the top Democratic negotiator, who like Bush wanted to make immigration reform his legacy — a capstone on the four decades he has spent shaping U.S. immigration law, beginning with the 1965 immigration act that remains the foundation of today’s system. Click here for the rest of the story.

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