The sponsors of the Senate’s stalled immigration reform had braced themselves for a fight, but their compromise bill roused a depth and breadth of hostility that surprised even them. Protests came from both extremes, as expected, but what stopped the plan was the centre. Moderates following the debate were unimpressed at best. The country at large, tracking the issue as attentively as the Paris Hilton crisis would allow, agreed. Too many people preferred the status quo.

The political context did not help. George W. Bush backed the measure throughout and lobbied for it again this week – but the president has no political capital. His support may be a net negative. The peremptory way in which the bill was foisted on the Senate by its self-appointed designers, who demanded instant support for a hugely complex law, also poisoned its reception. The Senate’s Democratic leadership, given to calling the measure “the president’s bill”, had its own agenda: it does not want to hand the White House a success.