I appreciate President Barack Obama's comments to the Des Moines Register crediting President George W. Bush for advocating comprehensive immigration reform, but I would have rather seen his support for the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 when he was the junior Senator from Illinois, or his introducing an immigration bill when he enjoyed Democratic majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate during his first two years as president. As a senator he claimed to support the 2007 bill, but when decision time came he sided with labor unions and voted for the two amendments that gutted the guest worker program, one of the three key elements of comprehensive reform. As president he did not introduce a bill or drive the discussion, and instead of working with Democratic and Republican members of Congress who were working on the DREAM Act, he signed an executive order in response to his declining support with Latino voters. He says he's "fairly confident" Republicans will have a "deep interest" in getting immigration reform done in his (unlikely) second term, but his record does not convince me he would be as committed.
