Friday, May 19th, 2006...6:10 am
The Good Yuma Man He Sees Everything Like This
I hadn’t commented on Bush’s Monday immigration speech. I could come up with some convuluted explanation like I wanted it to sink in or something. Naw. Just laziness, what can I say?
As much as I hate to give him credit, I want to give him a few props for the tone of the speech. Even though I am doubtful about some of his proposals, he avoided the nasty rhetoric that many in his party have used in this debate. I wish he would have stepped up a few months ago and use his position to keep the debate rational.
I’m not comfortable with using the National Guard. I have concerns about militarization (although the fact that they will not actually be on patrol sits a bit better with me), but also I share the concerns of governors like Ted Kulongoski and Arnold Schwarzenegger about overstretched guard units, especially since this looks to be a bad fire season in the Western states. By the way, wasn’t this whole National Guard idea pooh-poohed by the administration when Janet Napolitano and Bill Richardson suggested it?
Does the technology exist yet for a reliable and cheap “biometric ID card”? A minor point, to be sure, but I have already heard interviews with a few experts who have said that we may not know how to make them yet.
The rest of his plan will involve a great deal of legislative arm-twisting. Although the knock from many on my side against Bush is that he is an “imperial president,” when he comes to domestic issues, he has prefered to let congress take the lead. The President had largely (at least in public) stepped back from this issue except for a few speeches, so people like James Sensenbrenner felt they had the green light from the White House for hard line immigration measures. To pass his guest worker measures, the President is going to have to stand up to many on the right wing of his own party. If he wouldn’t stand up to them for one of his best friends (Harriet Meiers), who is to say he’ll put up any fight on this one?
He will lose a lot of Republicans on the issue, and may need to actually talk to Democrats. Imagine that!
I also wonder what sort of stink bomb this throws into our local Republican primaries. Although the entire Republican congressional delegation signed letters opposing “Protect Arizona Now,” many of them, particularly J. D. Hayworth and Jon Kyl, have now been painting themselves as pro-enforcement and anti-guest worker. (By the way, when will someone ask Hayworth why he opposed PAN, but now criticizes Napolitano for supposedly not enforcing it?) This now puts them in a position of running against the President. I would venture to say that Jim Pederson is now closer to the President on this issue than Kyl is.
Randy Graf has his reaction on his site. Graf, some of you may remember, hung a picture of the President upside down in his office when he came out for a guest worker program two years ago. He criticizes the president’s proposal for not going far enough, complete with a tortured baseball metaphor (isn’t he a golfer?).
He also points out that the Republican congress hasn’t fully funded the 9-11 Commission, or even the President’s, targets for hiring new Border Patrol agents. This is a valid criticism, and can be laid at the foot of the President, for not pushing congress on this issue, but mostly the Republican leadership in congress for not fully funding even the President’s requests. I know, there were were probably some giveaways to the pharmaceutical industry or bridges to Alaskan hamlets that were far more important.
One last thing: was the dune buggy picture a good idea? Or is it Mike Dukakis in the tank?
13 Comments
May 19th, 2006 at 7:56 am
It’s hard for me to think of Bush-lite as a centrist, but on this issue he comes as close to the middle as he ever has. Let’s hope he finds the backbone to stick to his guns rather than cave to the extreme side of his party.
The dune-buggy image seems funny to me, but not nearly as bad as the Dukakis tank picture.
May 19th, 2006 at 8:15 am
I am beginning to wonder whether the average person’s head is about to, if not already, spin on the border issue. Guest workers, build a wall, no maybe a fence in places is ok, more troops, more border patrol, amnesty, crack down on employers, immigrants protesting in the streets, immigrants dying in the desert, “Humanitarian Aid is not A Crime”, undocumented immigrants taking American jobs, undocumented immigrants taking jobs Americans don’t want, should be in line and waiting their turn. It is enough to give a guy and a gal a headache…especially policy wise and it also leads me to believe that what a voter is going to crave is a simplistic answer to a complex problem and that will be what is rewarded.
I am wondering if all of this is going to lead to super big voter fatigue. I mean, both, parties are falling into the “Solomon Trap”…compromising to please everyone…and in the end pleasing no one.
May 19th, 2006 at 8:46 am
One last thing: was the dune buggy picture a good idea? Or is it Mike Dukakis in the tank?
The first thing I thought was:
Bush: Oh no, Speed Buggy, we are late for our photo op!
Speed Buggy: Vrooma-zoom-zoooom!!
May 19th, 2006 at 9:03 am
According to polls done right after the speech, more people are now supporting the President’s immigration policy then before, but 71% of the increased support is coming from people who believe immigrants should have a path to citizenship. The conservatives aren’t budging.
May 19th, 2006 at 9:19 am
This is another case of Dems seizing a chance to ‘get along’ and calling Bush’s border militarization plan ‘centrist’ What the f***…
What is sane or rational or even centrist for that matter about a three walled border? I see no mention in your post about the severe environmental impacts this will have.
I’m beginning to feel like I’m living in Wonderland with the conservatives against Bush and the Dems calling him ‘centrist’. The list just grows for why I’ve left the Dems for the growing ranks of Independents. In it’s hungry quest to beat Bush by becoming Bush, Dems will just end up looking more and more weak, silly, and irrellevant.
And, I see this happening too in Tucson-most recently with the RTA (getting along with car dealers and developers) and now with the increased militarization of the border. You’re losing your way, folks..and pretty soon you won’t be able to find your way back and less people will care if you do.
May 19th, 2006 at 12:02 pm
“Does the technology exist yet for a reliable and cheap “biometric ID card”? A minor point, to be sure, but I have already heard interviews with a few experts who have said that we may not know how to make them yet.”-Tedski
So, do the Dems now support Big Brother’s efforts to track our movements and curtail even further our civil liberties? Creepy!If we do this to the Mexicans then we’re next.
We must call for the repeal of N/CAFTA, because that is what is causing desparate people to risk their lives to come here. Flooding the Mexican market with our cheap corn and soy puts their indigenous farmers out of work, and is only one example of the trade imbalances this ‘free’ trade has wrought. And, no amount of Mad-Max style of border control is going to overcome that.
May 19th, 2006 at 12:33 pm
Jeneiene- I realize that maybe this doesn’t fit into your whole “all you Democrats are weakneed sell outs” meme, but I never said I supported the ID card, and I don’t support the ID card. I also never said I supported all of Bush’s plan. Or any of it, for that matter.
May 19th, 2006 at 12:50 pm
I do support some of Bush’s plan. His plan includes a path to citizenship for the 12 million hard working people that are already here who fear everyday that their families will be ripped apart. His plan includes a guest worker program so people can come here legally (which every immigrant I’ve talked to in recent weeks would much prefer if it was a real option).
I don’t support a wall or more troops on the border. But if you polled the 12 million workers that are already here and the millions more that want to come here and asked them if they were willing to have a wall and more troops on the border in exchange for a path to citizenship and a legal way for people to come here and work, I’m positive they would allow the wall to be buildt and troops to be put on the border.
May 19th, 2006 at 2:14 pm
What UnionGuy said made me think a little more about Jeneiene’s points and, again, the Solomon Trap.
Bush is posing a plan that everyone gets something, but has to put up with some things they really don’t like here. Business (which is worried about the conservative stance by some in the Republican party), some Democrats, and some Latin-Americans get a guest worker program, but to do this we have to take a wall across our border, troops on the border, and more and more dollars chasing a problem that I am not sure is worth that much money. There is much more to be done yet on these bills…to be sure…but is it always worth it to go along to get what you want when you have to take something that is pretty nasty with it?
Eh…but that is the art of negotiation. What I wonder is whether Democrats are now negotiating on the turf of Republicans and are reacting to their proposals…and not vice versa?
May 19th, 2006 at 2:58 pm
As progressives, how do we tell 12 million hard working immigrants that we had a chance to keep you together with your families in the country that you wanted to live in, but we chose not to do it because we thought the wall was too expensive?
May 21st, 2006 at 12:14 pm
Unionguy:
I would say that we wouldn’t have to worry about that at all. I don’t think the Republicans have the guts to expel and deport 11 million people. In fact, after seeing Congressman Norwood (Ga-R) on “Meet the Press” today, I believe that they fear this issue like the plague. His stance was essentially tough border enforcement…and then the status quo. He backed off fast from deportation…in part…because his district benefits from the hidden illegal immigrant. His district, interestingly, is filled with chicken processing plants that bring immigrants into the plant from camps in the countryside…on buses with tinted windows.
They are hypocrites…they are using this issue to scare Americans in districts that have less than 5% Latin-American population. They speak one way to American…and yet another to the business folks using this labor who pay their campaign bills.
May 21st, 2006 at 12:20 pm
Oh…very interesting…Lindsey Graham of SC-R was up against Congressman Norwood. He has a moderate, pro-business take on immigration. He has been working for years to diversify the Republican party and it came out in his language and rhetoric today.
I look for McCain to choose Graham as his running mate…and to appear with him a LOT early. South Carolina squashed McCain last time…he will need Lindsey Graham to get through the South.
May 21st, 2006 at 5:11 pm
Kralmajales,
Immigrants already worry about it, because it happens all the time. Just a few weeks ago 35 families in Phoenix, and 500 nationwide, were broken apart by ICE when they had family members arrested and deported. It happens everyday. Immigrants need a path to citizenship and legalization now. Simultaneous mass deportation might not happen, but our current immigration laws create broken families all the time and, as progressives, we need to work to find a solution.
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