March 2010 Archives

Immigration Debate: Press One For Culture War In EnglishThere are number of illuminating moments in the HBO Documentary "The Senators' Bargain" that aired on HBO2 ; see a trailer here).  The documentary looks behind the scenes at the fight in the U.S. Senate in 2007 for comprehensive immigration reform legislation and focuses especially on Senator Ted Kennedy and his staff.  Among the remarkable moments are a floor speech by Sen. Trent Lott (of all people) imploring ...
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Amid the celebrations as President Obama signs health reform legislation into law, it is worth taking stock of where we are and where we're going.First, this is clearly a very big deal.  That's one thing everyone who spoke during the House debate agreed on.  It is a big political victory for the President that will have a positive impact on the lives of millions of Americans in decades ahead.Second, the ...
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Immigration reform appears to be moving forward and so does health care reform with the support of the Hispanic Caucus.  The complicated relationship between the forces fighting for immigration reform and the labor movement have been on display this week. A potentially uncomfortable moment on the stage was averted before the March For America rally for immigration reform on the National Mall in Washington this Sunday.  Andy Stern, the President of the Service ...
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Today, Dennis Kucinich announced that he was going to support the Health Care Bill, saying "I have to make a decision on the bill as it is, not on the bill as I would like to see it." (via @markknoller).  This is a step in the right direction. Democrats are starting to gain a sense of maturity and wisdom.  There was never any likelihood that the process of creating a Health ...
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Maybe there's a game on. The President had three meetings on immigration reform at the White House today.  He is increasingly under pressure to act on promises he made as a candidate to enact immigration reform in his first year in office and, now in his second year, the patience of pro-reform advocates - and Latino and immigrant voters - is wearing thin.The power of the Latino vote is a ...
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Immigration doesn't break cleanly along left/right, liberal/conservative, or Democratic/Republican lines.  There are lots of pro-immigration and pro-immigrant conservatives and they come in different varieties.  Likewise, there are lots of progressives with deep reservations about immigration reform and immigration in general.   But the divisions the immigration debate creates on the right are deeper, more passionate, and much more destructive to GOP unity than the division on the left and the last few ...
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