Hillary Clinton (neither brave nor unexpected) promises to scrutinize the "proposed compromise" as though the issues cannot be addressed until she has committed all 300 pages of it to memory. Senator Clinton polls as though she will be the next President, and has a deserved reputation as a policy wonk. She is a gifted and intelligent woman by all accounts. She has very specific ideas about health care, developed over decades; but immigration...? Nada. Please tell us if you believe in expedited legalization? Tell us if you agree with "touch back" to country of origin? Tell us if you support saving-wipe-out fines of $5,000? Instead, she stakes out a conservative "position" with unfortunate (cynical?) and puzzling platitudes on respecting rule of law. (Which law? Haven't all the 12 million+ undocumented immigrants already broken the law? Are you chastising them? Do you intend to exclude them from a legalization program?) (I link here to her Senate site—I can't find a policy statement on this issue on her presidential campaign website, though the homepage asks supporters to help pick the "campaign song") while Barack Obama offers a much more detailed analysis and solution. [Update, Sunday May 20: Hillary Clinton may be unable to offer a detailed response to the "Deal" but migrant workers apparently can. See New York Times. And while Obama may not be ready to be President by conventional measures, he indiputably makes the most phenomenally thoughtful speeches of any candidate. Speaker-in-Chief? We need inspiration like this. (Thanks, to Andrew for reprinting this speech.]

Since no front runner can avoid taking a position on it, and since they have everything to gain by criticizing any aspect repugnant to their respective bases, it is easy political calculus: Romney condemns McCain's plan as "amnesty" in a new ad rushed to the airwaves to maximally exploit the issue; Edwards, in the mold of champion of the working man, rejects the guest worker program. No candidate can offer an answer: How to we find consensus within this unbelievably broad spectrum, one that runs the gamut from path-to-citizenship to deport-them-all-now. They cannot. And millions of immigrants and their American citizen minor children will continue to suffer for it if we do not find ingenious ways to craft policy, and fortitude to resist the temptation to slide in the ethereal proclamations of soundbite politics.
The President used a second weekly radio address in a row to campaign for what the White House hopes will be domestic policy victory ("It will help us resolve the status of millions of illegal immigrants who are here already, without animosity and without amnesty," said Bush.) Surely even Rove ("Bush's Brain") knows its chances are slim, because even with this weakened, lame-duck Presidential support, the bill will have to navigate through some "perilous shoals." (Reuters). But POTUS may be wagering that Latino voters, key in some swing states, won't blame Republicans if a Democratic Congress cannot pass the legalization legislation he supports.
[Update May 21: Immigration Roils 2008 Presidential Race, says Bloomberg News.]
To paraphrase Margo Channing, "Fasten your seat belts, we're in for a bumpy ride."