John McCain is bowing to the far right now, but he’ll deliver comprehensive immigration reform as president. He may even deliver a future for his party.
As the only GOP candidate to remember that illegal immigrants are “God’s children,” his emergence as the nominee repudiated the harshest of his party’s nativist voices.
McCain restores a particle of decency to the GOP in the eyes of Latinos. If he achieves comprehensive immigration reform, his presidency could deliver long-term Latino support for a party that’s been alienating this rapidly growing segment of the voting public.
Former Arizona Rep. Jim Kolbe says it would be easier for McCain to pursue immigration reform than for either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. It’s like “Nixon going to China,” he says.
The question is this: Will it be a slow boat or a fast one?
If the conservative wing of McCain’s party holds its collective nose and votes for him, McCain may allow things to percolate slowly through Congress. He may toss out a few conservative judicial appointments before giving Rush and Ann the opportunity to sing their populist hit tune, “Amnesty Traitor!”
But the man who made his reputation as a maverick will want “straight talk” as his presidential legacy. He stuck by his call for comprehensive immigration reform last summer when the pundits were carving his political grave stone. He’ll stick with it as president.
Kolbe, who worked with McCain on immigration reform in Congress, says McCain “made it clear he’s not going to go out of his way to pander” to the ultra-right wing.
But McCain is also a politician. He built a sliding scale into his promise of immigration reform. He said comprehensive reform failed because the American people do not trust the federal government to do this right. To win their confidence, he vows to address border security first. For how long? That depends on who puts McCain in the White House. During a Fox News debate in September, McCain said he would ask border states to certify when their borders were secure. Arizona, the nation’s gateway for illegal immigration, is moving a bill through the legislature to implement a state guest worker program. It’s ready to move beyond enforcement now.
If the right wing stays home and independent voters make McCain president, he can justify a push for reform. The business wing of the party says it’s overdue. State efforts at enforcement create uncertainties and inconsistencies that make businesses twitch. Under the employer sanctions law Arizona passed last year, a business loses its license the second time an undocumented immigrant is found on the payroll.
There’s one more variable. Latino voters may be disenchanted with a non-Hillary candidate and play a role in electing McCain. McCain won 68 percent of GOP Latino voters in Arizona on Super Tuesday.
If Latinos help put McCain in the White House, he’ll have good reason to shove, not push, immigration reform through Congress.
Linda Valdez is a columnist with the Arizona Republic, http://www.azcentral.com/ members/Blog/Valdez