Posted on 02/07/2005 4:37:52 PM PST by pissant
There are two kinds of presidents — actors and reactors. President Bush is an actor. He tries to make things happen, not just respond to events.
That came through in a new way to me this week as I met with the president for a half hour in the Oval Office. I asked the president if he had any thoughts on how history would judge his administration. He said that history evolves and that different generations have different views of the past. He noted that even George Washington (search) was getting another look today and that he is currently reading a book about the first president.
The president told me he thinks the judgment of history will take longer with his administration because he is trying to do "big things." Indeed he is — from the situation in Iraq and last weekend's apparently successful election to reforming Social Security (search), this president leads and forces others to follow.
Some may not like the direction in which he is leading, but they can't fault him for forcing debates over important issues instead of just managing what circumstances come his way.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Two things he must address in the second term — out of control spending by both Democrats and Republicans, and illegal immigration. Congress failing to control spending will put new pressures on an economy that has just begun to recover from the post 9/11 hit. And not controlling our borders is a recipe for cultural disaster and a change in the character of the country we have known.
For whatever reason I can't figure, he won't do that.
I try not to be a one-issue person, but the lack of any attention to (and, in some cases, the seeming dismissal of) the border problem is more than puzzling for me. I'm not sure what W is afraid of. This article (rightly) credits the President for taking on tough issues. But, he won't "take on" the real immigration and border problem we have.
And, if the President is indeed less interested in what his contemporary political opponents say about him (as he often contends), then he should do something about the immigration and border issue and let those political opponents cry and whale (which they would do regardless of his stance) and make a positive change.
It's really buggin' me.
Beat me to it. Righto.
He is taking it on (immigration). So I'll give him credit for staking his territory out, even against the wishes of his base. That takes some nads. However, I'm hoping for strict border enforcement to win the day.
Look fir the money. It must have something to do with raping Mexico for control of their oil and anything else. Maybe it is just the global stuff. Soon Mexico and Canada will be more united. They must figure if half of Mexico lives here we can just walk in and tak over. Or maybe it is about causing rebellion so the globalists can crack down and take our guns. Who knows? I have been asking the same question for some time. Maybe they are trying to salvage SS since we have kill 40+ million americans in the past 35 years.
Whatever it is you can bet if the fedgov.con is trying to solve a problem two more will be created.
Me, too. I can't for the life of me understand the blind spot.
I can explain to you why the President has the view that he does of the border, but I expect that the view is not going to sit well.
As a Spanish-speaking governor of Texas, he understands Mexico and Mexicans better than most Americans, and that is who is coming across that border mostly: Mexicans. Sure, there are other folks mixed in with them - and this is a real problem when we talk about terrorists. But the President knows first-hand that the Mexicans are not the terrorists, and he does not want the sheep to be confused with the wolves.
Secondly, President Bush does not view Mexicans as "others", or particularly different. They are family- values Catholics, he is a family-values Christian. His brother is married to a Mexican woman and is Catholic. The Mexicans, to President Bush, are part of the family...quite literally in his case. And so the President does not share, in his bones, the CULTURAL aversion that so many anti-immigration conservatives have for the "flood" of Mexican immigration. Things Spanish, Latino and Mexican are simply not alien to President Bush or his brother. They are foreign, yes, but Bush thinks of Mexican immigrants the same way we think of the Italian and Irish immigrants of the past: just more new Americans. And Bush, as a Spanish-speaking border-stater, just doesn't feel that the proliferation of the Spanish language is a big deal. He doesn't see the Latinization of America as being a dramatic, dire or bad cultural change.
Of course, he understands that a lot of folks in his own party don't share that view. And so he is careful. But at the end of the day there is a considerable distance between the person who sees the Mexican immigrant as an illegal alien, and the President who sees that same Mexican immigrant as just another Christian guy trying to get ahead for himself and his family. The one wants the illegals tossed out of the country and the borders closed. But Bush wants to figure out a way to regularize the status of these folks so that they can stay and become American citizens and share in the American dream. He doesn't see aliens, he sees regular people, family even.
And he knows that most of his party doesn't see it quite that way, so he is cautious and diplomatic, but the bottom line is that he NOT going to put armed forces on that border to stop the Mexicans, because he doesn't WANT to stop Mexican immigration. He thinks it's a good thing that Mexican folks share the American dream, just like his fellow Tejanos do. He'll figure out a way to intercept the NON-Latino immigrants without closing the border, to keep the terrorists out but let the Mexicans in.
In this way, he is very similar to the American Presidents of the past who kept turning a blind eye to European Latin and Irish immigration, despite the forceful calls of people of both parties to stop it because it would "change the character of America". Bush doesn't think that adding Latin food and seeing more Spanish around changes the character of America at all, because HIS America has always been that way, and he thinks it's great.
To President Bush, Mexicans are not really a different culture, just part of the same Western Christian continuum.
Therefore, the "cultural invasion" that you see, he doesn't. And he isn't going to. He's not going to close the border to Mexicans.
You make some good points for consideration.
Thank you for that. I've thought the same thing, and he is right. Mexico is part of the same mosiac that is America. I actually believe that his "guest worker" status is a good way to regulate the illegal crossing. No guest worker pass, no entry. Fewer numbers of illegal crossers, more border guards freed up to catch the illegals.
Yes. When we leave it to the gov. to solve, instead of controlling our representatives in government, and telling them what exactly we want.
But one person can have a focus, a plan, goals, and accomplish them.
Some of the previous administrations did not want to 'offend' anyone. Besides organized crime throughout the world,there was the MSM and HOLLYWOOD. Cater to them and they will cater to you. This way you can hide your peccadillos.
Only those with nothing to hide risk going out on a limb.
Everything that President Bush has said he wants to accomplish for our Nation, I want.
Many have no idea how much of an effect he has already had on the running of our government. The corrupt are being rooted out, investigated, and jailed.
Imagine running a company where half of your force (the Dems) consider you to be the devil incarnate. Because you wish to expose their corruption.
Imagine that your stockholders (the Citizens) are fed lies by the media about you, and have this insane hatred for you, without having one single thing that they can provide as proof you are corrupt.
Imagine having that and still accomplishing just what has been done in the first four years.
A person with that kind of committment and courage I will follow (and I am not a follower), and our soldiers carry that same respect.
As far as what the US has done to other countries, I would say to them, YES, WE HAVE. YOU AND ME BUDDY. We let our presidents and senators and representatives get away with this crap for years and years.
We should have done something about it. But don't blame this President for YOUR LACK OF ACTION in the past.
One major negative here and in the Southwest, however, is that the criminal elements are also largely reflective of the influx as are many of the subsidized social services including schools and hospitals. Good with the bad or vice versa?
extremely good piece - no knee-jerk here
Its way to late to write letters and vote and too early to shot the predators and parasites.
So why did slick willie get the ball rolling?
Bush is largely acting in the same capacity as the Presidents who presided over large influxes of first Irish, then "Mediterranean", influxes of immigrants. Mexican immigrants afford a supply of low cost labor to the overall benefit of our economy. And, culturally, Mexicans largely share our values.
The analogy of separating the sheep from the wolves is a very apt one. Regularizing the status of the sheep is a positive, while locating and deporting or blocking the wolves is equally positive.
At any rate, the issue must be joined. And the President is prepared to do so. We are at a stage where, indeed, any policy might be better than no policy at all.
And, your insinuation that I'm some soft of xenophobe really isn't appreciated. At no point in my post did I even imply that there was something wrong with the Mexican people (or any other type of Latino for that matter). But, let's break down the various topics that surround this issue.
Language
I'm conversationally proficient (not quite fluent) in Spanish and travel for business in Central and South America. I think learning a second (or third) language is a great thing to do. When I go to those countries, I speak, and expect to speak, Spanish. I do not expect special treatment because I'm a gringo. And, when I conduct business in these countries, the burden is on me (not them) to abide by the language, culture, and mores of that country.
Any immigrant to America should be required to do the same. If they need to go to a class to learn (as I did prior to my travels in Central and South America) or carry around a Spanish-to-English dictionary (as I still do), then they should do that. No immigrant (legal or illegal) should demand that our various systems be presented to them in Spanish. Making these additional provisions --from separate educational materials to signage on road ways or in public places-- all have a financial impact on the municipal and state governments of border states.
Other countries, especially if tourism comprises large portions of their GDP, might put signage in the native language and English (key word being MIGHT). They definitely won't go much further than that. Why should we?
And, the language issue points out your major flaw when you invoke Italian immigrants. The Italian immigrant didn't demand that their children be taught school curriculum in Italian. The Italian immigrants didn't require all of the government services to be written it Italian. The Italian immigrants who came to America with nothing --just like the Mexicans today-- proudly learned English. They became Americans. Most illegals in the U.S. today are Mexicans first. They don't want to be Americans. And, no, I'm not talking about the general cultural pride that each of us has. I'm talking about the national identity that one claims.
Legal vs. Illegal Immigration
And, as DougF has pointed out, "Closing the border" doesn't mean zero immigration; it mean zero ILLEGAL immigration. At no point did I ever imply that we should stop all forms of immigration.
Your comment about "how to regularize" the status of illegals is astounding.
These people broke our laws to get here and now we want to hand them the American dream, so they can "share in the American dream"? Are you kidding?
Instead, they pay a one-time fee to sign up for a guest worker program where they can become fully legal? What?
It seems to me that if I break the law, I get punished. The President's plan calls for a worker card that allows them to travel back and forth and eventually earn a legal status. No punishment? No repayment for consumed public services? And, in the next breath, the administration is talking about "no amnesty". Well, if they don't pay for the laws they have already broken, you give them a card that allows them to work in the U.S., and they have the promise of being able to become legal after a certain period of time and all they have to buck up is a one-time fee to register for the program?
The administration isn't calling it amensty, but isn't that amnesty in a nutshell?
Public Health Care
The public health care systems in the border states are soaked with illegals. They are getting cared for, but pay for nothing. As a tax payer of a border state I think that I have more-than legitimate beef here.
Crime
And, I'm sure that you will try to distort this comment, but it is a fact that ½ (HALF!) of the illegals in here are in a correctional facility. Take it however you want. Twist the facts however you will. But, it won't change that those are the facts.
Amen - I think we are on the same page.
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