The immigration bill was an effort to deal with a complex, difficult problem. Reasonable people on both sides could take issue with its provisions, some of which were well-intentioned but unworkable and some of which were silly symbolic posturing. It was defeated not on its merits (nor its problems) by xenophobic ranting.

The effect is two-fold. It marks the end of the Bush presidency as anything other than an obstruction. It also more or less assures that the Republican party will sink into increasing irrelevance as an electoral choice. George Bush don't know much about history, but he does know (or Karl Rove knows) that becoming the 21st century equivalent of the Know Nothings is not a path to electoral success.

Globalization is a force that may be affected at the margins. It's not a force that can be stopped. Immigration, whether legal or illegal, will continue as long as economic forces continue to draw workers to this country. Significant limitations can be imposed only in the context of economic decline.

The growth of Hispanic culture in the US cannot be stopped. A party that insults and disrespects it will fail in the long run. The defeat of the immigration bill is less important in terms of its specific provisions than in the message it sends to Hispanics. The Republican Party doesn't want you. Republicans can try to dress it up in other ways. But that's the message.

GWB recognized that. It's ironic that his mojo has so completely disappeared that he couldn't convince his own party about an issue that, in the long run, is far more important than whether to build a 50 or a 55 foot fence on the Mexican border.

__________________
"To announce that..we are to stand by the president whether right or wrong..is morally treasonable to the American public." -- Theodore Roosevelt, 1918