Today's print edition of the Washington Times, in the "Inside Politics" section, quotes Senator Barack Obama as congratulating the Bush Administration on opening talks with our peace-loving friends in Iran (peace-loving, that is, when they're not engaged in acts of piracy, hostage taking and building The Big One). Senator Obama is quoted as saying, "I have to give the administration credit, which I rarely do....[It's] not because I trust the Iranians, but because I think they have a self-interest. They don't want to see Iraq completely collapse because they're going to have millions of people pouring over their borders," he said.
How's that?
Did Senator Obama just acknowledge (1) that a country's self-interest is properly taken into account when setting its national policy, and (2) that it is in a nation's self-interest not to "have millions of people pouring over [its] borders?"
Now if the Senator can connect the dots, so to speak, he might discern that it is also in the national interest of the United States not "to have millions of people pouring over [our] borders," as they have been doing for years, courtesy of see-no-evil border security and the 1986 amnesty deal, which effectively rewarded exactly that.
I am assuming here, of course, that Senator Obama believes that the United States is entitled to act in its self interest just as Iran is, but I confess that is only an assumption. If it's correct, however, we can hope that the Senator will recall this as he deliberates what our immigration policy should be. So hope -- but don't hold your breath.