Editor's Note: The May Day immigrant rights march might have been small in size compared to the one in 2006, but for the first time since these annual marches have been happening, the face of a U.S. president was on signs carried by the marchers, clearly indicating that they believe he can bring about immigration reform. Raj Jayadev is director of Silicon Valley De-Bug.

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Although visibly smaller than in previous years, the immigrant rights march in San Jose will go down as a win, not for its size, but for what it beat –- the rain, the swine flu, the economy, the lack of an enemy President, the law of diminishing return, and the impossible precedent of 2006.

Thousands of protesters marched in San Jose.

If anything, this march was the most important of the four annual actions in that it was the first one that was fighting for something – comprehensive immigration reform that has a shot. The 2006 march was an act of defense, immigrants taking the streets to proclaim their existence and refusal to let their undocumented family members be targeted as criminals under a pending federal legislation, HR 4437. The 2007 and 2008 marches were reunions of sorts, marches to honor and remember the history that was made in 2006, the largest mass marches in the history of the United States by a people who largely did not exist according to federal law.

The irony was that in an effort to reclaim that spirit of spontaneity that defined the 2006 march, every effort made by the large institutional organizations seemed more contrived and predictable. The first march, no one knew where it was going to end, or who was “leadingâ€