No it wasn't. The speech had several flaws. The most glaring was an omission of a border length security fence. The second was insisting on wrapping border security with a "guest worker" program.
Many conservatives do not trust Bush to enforce border security - that is why a border length security fence has been called for.
Counting on Bush to defend the border is like counting on a advocate for the homeless enforcing panhandling ordinances - it's going to be done half-heartedly.
Um, Jeff, he mentioned building more fences on the border. Sorry but it's right in there. If I was him, I'd build a ten foot brick wall with barbed wire and armed guards every 500 feet, and to he11 with the cost. Congress can fund studies to measure how much methane cow farts release into the atmosphere, they can afford to build that. That's what I'd do, but a fence will do for now. It's better than nothing. One by one he said the things that I have heard Conservatives yell for regarding the border for years, including Limbaugh and Hannity, and when it was all done, I was hard pressed to come up with big things he didn't mention. Give credit where credit is due. He is now on board with 80% to 90% of the things that are required to real border security improvement. It's just a fact clearly illustrated in the wording of the speach.