At tonight’s Rose Garden celebration of Cinco de Mayo, Barack Obama said he intended to begin work on “comprehensive immigration reform” this year, even though many administration observers predicted the issue was too controversial to tackle following the bloody battle over health care reform legislation:

I know there’s been some commentary over the last week since I talked about this difficult issue:  Well, is this politically smart to do?  Can you get Republican votes?  Look, of course, it’s going to be tough.  That’s the truth.  Anybody who tells you it’s going to be easy or I can wave a magic wand and make it happen hasn’t been paying attention how this town works. (Laughter.)

We need bipartisan support.  But it can be done.  And it needs to be done.  So I was pleased to see a strong proposal for comprehensive reform presented in the Senate last week —- and I was pleased that it was based on a bipartisan framework.  I want to begin work this year, and I want Democrats and Republicans to work with me — because we’ve got to stay true to who we are, a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants.

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