Walking a language tightrope

The staying power of immigration as a campaign issue was demonstrated anew this week at town hall meeting in Pipersville, Pa., when a woman asked John McCain a pointed question:

“Why, as an American, do I have to push a button to speak English or hear English?”

The audience, a sea of mostly white faces, erupted in deafening applause.

“I think you struck a nerve,” said McCain, for whom this is a delicate issue, given his support of last year’s failed immigration bill. It included a path to citizenship that was derided by its foes as amnesty.

“I tell you,” continued the woman, “I really get ticked. I really do.”

“I can tell,” McCain said.

“And then you go into Lowe’s,” she continued, “and it says ‘entrada.’ And every utility bill you get has got a foreign language on it.”

On immigration, McCain gave his now-standard reply, asserting the importance of securing the country’s borders first and of instituting a temporary worker program with “tamper-proof, biometric documents.” English, he said, must be learned by anyone wanting to become a citizen.

“I understand your frustration,” he said, and then made a subdued plea for tolerance.

“There is a great thing about America, and that is we welcome all people. . . . We are the great, great nation that brings people together from all . . . backgrounds and languages and cultures. And we love the Hispanic heritage -- we love the Irish heritage, we love all of the heritages -- that has enriched our country.”

-- Robin Abcarian