Spitzer's License

As convoluted as Senator Clinton's answers have been to the questions about Governor Spitzer's plan to issue New York driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, we daresay that we understood where she was coming from. She made the point that the failure to pass a comprehensive overhaul of the immigration laws had left state and local governments in the awkward and difficult position of dealing with millions of persons who are here but aren't legally supposed to be here.

The point about a need for a change in the law is a key one, grasped foremost by a Republican presidential contender, Senator McCain, who had championed the effort in the Senate to pass a law giving illegal immigrants a path to regularize their status and ultimately gain citizenship. It's a point on which Mr. Spitzer himself has been muted recently. First he seemed to conceive of immigrants mainly as a highway safety hazard. Later, in an appearance at Washington with the homeland security secretary, he seemed to conceive of them mainly as a national security threat. Better for Mr. Spitzer to appeal to his party, which controls Congress, to widen the doors into the country and embrace growth and opportunity.

If Mr. Spitzer needs inspiration, he can consult his own inaugural address. One New York, he said then, "includes today's immigrants whose lips speak the languages of Spanish, Chinese, Korean, French and an infinite array of dialects from all over the world. Today's immigrants enrich our state with their vitality and their vision, in the same way as the immigrants of the last century. All these different tongues translate into the incomparable work ethic of New York. And it includes the brave immigrants who came through Ellis Island over the last century in search of a better life, one of whose grandsons stands here in front of you today the embodiment of their dreams."