Showdown at the DMV

New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's original plan to issue driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants should have been an example of practical and modest good government. It had nothing to do with "amnesty," pathways to citizenship, border control, guest workers or employer sanctions; it merely attempted, in the absence of rational federal immigration policy, to guarantee a competent and insured driver behind the wheel of every New York car. As a matter of public safety, it garnered the dry-eyed support of nonpartisans like the New York State Catholic Conference, the New York Times and former counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke, as well as the libertarian Cato Institute. Similar plans have been implemented in eight states, including New Mexico, Oregon and Maryland. So what happened on the road to the DMV?

Many factors doomed Spitzer's effort, his squandered political capital among them. His compromise plan--to create three levels of licenses, one of which would have been the federal Real ID--pleased nobody. But mostly, his proposal came undone in the maelstrom of intense pressure from conservatives, lackluster support from progressives, right-wing nativism and the distorting glare of the 2008 presidential campaign. Its demise may be a harbinger of ugly politics to come.

From the moment Spitzer announced his proposal, Lou Dobbs and his shock-jock clones on drive-time radio launched a vicious smear campaign. Dobbs characterized the plan as a sanctuary program for 9/11 terrorists. New York State Assembly minority leader James Tedisco asserted that "somewhere in a cave with his den of thieves and terrorists" Osama bin Laden was celebrating with champagne. Monroe County Republicans distributed a flier of a turbaned man with an assault rifle slung over his shoulder under the headline Democrat County Legislators Want to Make It Easier for Illegals and Terrorists to Get Driver's Licenses!

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