Spitzer Foiled by 'Shameless Misinformation Campaign'

The hapless Eliot Spitzer is now taking flak from a Latino activist disguised as a NY Daily News columnist.

He's got all the talking points down.

Even less funny is that neither Clinton nor Obama would have had any trouble if, instead of running scared of the fearmongers and self-styled superpatriots, they would have behaved like real leaders and addressed the issue with honesty.

Because Spitzer's plan was sound public policy defeated by a shameless misinformation campaign.

"The governor's plan would have promoted safer roads for all state residents, increased the number of insured drivers, and supported New York's thriving immigrant community, which spurs on the state's economic vibrancy and development," said Amy Gottlieb, an attorney and director of the American Friends Service Committee's immigrant rights program in the Greater New York area.

The Department of Motor Vehicles estimates there are 500,000 unlicensed and uninsured drivers in the state. No one can say whether they know the state's traffic laws. But in all probability, they are contributing to making the roads and streets more dangerous.

Allowing the undocumented who qualify to obtain a driver's license was a practical way to deal with reality. It would have improved public safety and brought immigrants out of the shadows and into the system.

In truth, despite the histrionics of extremists, immigrants are a fundamentally decent group. Documented or not, they are struggling to give a better life to their families. And let's not forget that in the process, they are contributing with their hard work to the country's economy.

Of course, they would never be able to get auto insurance, but why spoil a good rant?

The Journal News suggests Governor Steamroller go on a listening tour.

For Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who campaigned on a promise to do what is right, not what is politically popular, the driver's license debacle has offered a lesson in remedial steamrolling: Sometimes the best way to reach a goal is not to plow over obstacles, but to work with them.

It remains to be seen if this fiasco, following on the heels of "troopergate" and the set-to over picking a new state comptroller smackdown, will be Spitzer's undoing. Will immigrant communities whose hopes have been raised and then dashed be able to forgive him? What about state lawmakers who agreed with the goals of the license plan but mutinied over Spitzer's methods? Will presidential contenders, who were reluctantly drawn into a no-win immigration debate, hold it against him?

Apparently, they forgot about his tax scheme and parole for cop-killers. Others are looking for civility.

Dean Hubbard, who teaches public policy at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville and runs a project to organize day laborers in Yonkers, knows well what a hot-button issue illegal immigration has become. He is looking forward to a day when the license debate is more civil.

"I don't think it's doomed at all," Hubbard said, though he couldn't predict when the time might be right to revisit the issue. "It depends on what happens in terms of broader immigration issues, what we do about the border, who wins the election, whether Lou Dobbs has a heart attack."

Previous Spitzer hijinx here.