Impact of Failed US Immigration Reform on President Bush

Filed in archive Americas on July 3, 2007

Failure of the US Senate last month to agree to comprehensive immigration reform is widely seen as another sign of failure of the President. Immigration reform was long stressed by him as important to the country and he invested some of his remaining political capital in an effort to bring Republicans and Democrats together on the issue. The resulting legislative proposal frankly would have done more harm than good, so it is understandable that a majority of senators wanted more time to amend the flawed proposal initially introduced by the White House and Senate leaders from both parties.

Because he identified himself so closely with comprehensive immigration reform, this failure is seen as president bush's failure and is reported as another sign of his status as a lame duck. Immigration Vote: End Of A Presidency? by Kenneth T. Walsh, U.S.News & World Report, is a great example.