Obama Lets Us Down Again

Unbelievable. Who knew that a president who has ignored, neglected and avoided immigration reform for much of his presidency cared so much about the concept that -- rather than do the wrong thing -- he preferred to do nothing?

Democrats who support this administration and yet still claim to want immigration reform need to wake up and choose one option or the other. These folks have been dealt an awful hand. And so, they're falling back on their natural instinct and blaming the Democrats' favorite villain: George W. Bush.

So what, they say, if Obama hasn't fulfilled his promise to reform the immigration system -- either on his own through executive order, or by working with Congress? Nothing happened during eight years of the Bush administration, either.

It's pointless to compare Bush's failure to deliver immigration reform with what has been, over the last five and a half years, Obama's cynical shell game. No matter who is president, it is always going to be difficult to achieve immigration reform as long as you have an unlikely coalition of union supporters on the left and nativists on the right standing together to torpedo the effort.

Still, Bush had a plan: guest workers, legal status and border security. He challenged members of his own party, sent Labor Secretary Elaine Chao and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez to Congress often to work out a bill, enlisted Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Vice President Dick Cheney to make the argument that -- after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 -- reform made us safer, and repeated the unpopular but honest claim that illegal immigrants did jobs that Americans won't do. Yes, Bush should have done more to get immigration reform through Congress. Yet, at least he was in the arena.

Spinners are going to spin. Nevertheless, on immigration reform, the last two presidents don't compare. Bush tried and failed. But Obama failed to try.

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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com.