The immigration debate, again

Here's the other big question: How strong are the anti-immigrant activists who dominated the debate last time -- talk radio and CNN's Lou Dobbs and their inflamed, angry followers. In fact, as poll after poll showed, these naysayers represented a relatively small segment of Americans -- no more than 20% to 25%. But they were loud and well-organized, and they managed to generate doubts about reform among a much larger group of uncertain, ambivalent voters.

Dobbs and former Colorado congressman Tom Tancredo are already ratcheting up their anti-immigrant rhetoric, and the recession may help them. But it's also possible that things will play out differently, that some of the far-right's anger is spent, and that the doubts won't catch on as they did last time among the broader public. Voters are anxious and self-absorbed, but as Obama's election and continued popularity show, voters want things fixed. They want Washington to act boldly, to tackle hard problems, to make the compromises necessary to pass fundamental reforms. And immigration may well benefit from the new can-do, reformist mood.

Will it be immigration deja vu in 2009? It could be -- the same old stale debate or an equally uncompromising one. But enough has already changed that it could be different this time around. Who knows, this time, we as a nation might even get to "yes."