What he has done here is to open an actual debate on the topic, which is something that has not occurred for a long time, and certainly not in a post 9-11 context.
As such, I think he has laid out a reasonable position (which is not the same as a correct position) that is a) no worse than what we have now; and b) is well to the right of the Aztlan activists and their Democrat enablers. And as a matter of fact, the proposal to register "illegals" makes theoretical sense on a number of levels.
What will most likely happen is that the Tancredo wing of Congress will drag immigration policy toward a better-secured border. Their influence will give us something better than we have now.
Or at least, we'll get something better if those fine folks don't follow Tancredo -- who is a consummate political fool -- on a fratricide mission against Bush.
Bush has gotten the debate off dead-center. Now it can progress toward some definitive conclusion, which should bring an improvement in border policies. All in all, that's a good thing for him to have done.
Excellent point. The last attempt was in 1986, Ronald Reagan was president, and we were at the height of the Cold War and Democrats were doing their damndest to set up Reagan for another Watergate.