The American Enterprise Institute’s Jim Pethokoukis has a dreamy post envisioning what immigration reform would have looked like had Mitt Romney won last November:
I’m not sure what an “assimilation bond” is, but the rest of this policy sounds great. Unfortunately, as Pethokoukis goes on to note, Obama won. He then adds:
If immigration policy were something we could just go back and fix after Obama leaves office, I might agree. But it’s not. Immigration reform is a once in a lifetime thing. We will be stuck with whatever Obama signs into law for a long time. At least until the next amnesty. And the horrendous guest worker program in this bill alone guarantees another amnesty will be needed.
When Obama won, any hope of pro-growth tax reform died.
When Obama won, any hope of pro-growth entitlement reform died.
When Obama won, any hope of pro-growth immigration reform died.
Those are the facts.
Obama will only be president for another three-and-a-half years. Tax reform is important enough to wait till then. Entitlement reform is important enough to wait till then. And immigration reform is important enough to wait till then.
Daydreaming otherwise doesn’t help anyone.
