Posted on 06/16/2007 5:19:45 PM PDT by hardback
PROVIDENCE Immigration reform was to be George W. Bushs legacy. Its now clear that he wont have a legacy to stand on.
The presidents visit to the Capitol was supposed to restart the immigration grand bargain, currently in a mid-air stall. As is his habit, he painted scary scenarios if things dont go his way. (Note how he lists the dire consequences of pulling out of the mess he created in Iraq.) On immigration, he warns that the status quo is unacceptable.
And we can thank him for that unacceptable status quo. As Americas chief executive, it was Bushs duty to enforce the laws against hiring illegal immigrants.
And for seven years, he did next to nothing. No, he did worse than nothing. In 2004, he publicly vowed to match any willing worker with any willing employer, thus ending the tradition that stressed the interests of American labor in making immigration policy. The message was heard as intended, setting off a new surge of illegal entrants.
One recalls the famous line in the movie Touch of Evil, when Orson Welles, a corrupt U.S. cop, asks Marlene Dietrich, a fortune-telling madam in Tijuana, to read his future. You havent got any, she says ominously. Your future is all used up.
The same can be said of Bushs future as a leader on immigration reform. The presidents credibility is all used up by his conscious strategy to neglect immigration enforcement part of a shameful drive to cheapen American labor for the advantage of business.
Bush also pulled a bait-and-switch. He always spoke of amnesty as something that would be extended to illegal aliens whove been here a long time and paid their back taxes. But the bill he supports gives amnesty to people who crashed the border as recently as six months ago, and it drops the part about back taxes.
So, small wonder that Americans greet Bushs views on the immigration bill with either hostility or utter indifference. They sense that the fix is in that illegal-alien advocates and big business have combined with lawmakers to sell them out.
And they dont want to fall for a repeat of the 1986 grand bargain, which promised amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants in return for fines against employers who hire them. The amnesty came off, while the employer sanctions were sabotaged. The original proposal called for a computerized registry against which employers would have to verify the right of all job applicants to work in the United States. It was ditched and replaced with an honor system that let employers accept documents that looked OK to them. Thus, a new era of counterfeiting was born.
Heres a simple idea to build public support for an immigration compromise: Have Congress pass the part of the bill that would force employers to check all new hires eligibility to work in the United States with a database (and fine those who dont). Once thats being done to the publics satisfaction, we can discuss what to do about the illegal immigrants living here and whether to increase the number of legal visas.
The latest round of threats has it that if Congress doesnt pass comprehensive immigration reform right away, the issue will get lost in the upcoming presidential campaigns. Wrong. On the contrary, the American people will have the opportunity to press the candidates on what they would do about a matter that affects their wages, health care, taxes and the environment.
There are worse things than the status quo. Bush has shown time and again that he knows how to create them. Now, if he would only just go away.
n Froma Harrop is a member of the Providence (R.I.) Journal editorial board and a Creators Syndicate colum
You can say that again!!! Well put!!!
If only Bush had fought this hard to capture OBL...
“I am beginning to think that why should a boy down the street give his life for a country that is willing to sell itself out.”
How absolutely right you are. I greatly admire our armed forces not only for their heroism but mostly for their dedication to a government that sells out their homeland as their backs are turned while facing the enemy. What a shameless bunch of politicians do we have in Washington.
I fear his legacy will eventually be violence in the streets of America.
“..which include gang members, felons, child molesters, fraud perpetrators, drug runners, smugglers etc.....”
And don’t forget the many jihadists who have sneaked across the border during that time.
“And, even though her Democrats would benefit from this abomination, she clearly grasps that America wouldn’t.”
Which means that Froma places the welfare of her country before personal gratification. Bush, democrats and RINOs could learn something from her.
Exactly, me too.
It is possible that the Democrats might lose more votes from black laborers and blue-collar union members than they would gain from the Mexican immigrants who undercut them in the job market.
I'm sure they're crunching the numbers.
Wouldn't you love to know the specifics about what is really, really behind this? If Bush had worked this hard on securing the border and done so, he'd be a hero. But instead, he uses border enforcement as a bargaining chip (or blackmail if you wish) to get amnesty, when we all know he has no intention of stopping the invasion even if he gets his amnesty.
I really do not trust him at all any more.
Why does he want his legacy to be surrendering to Mexico? Makes no sense.
Good one! The ring is brilliant.
I wonder what is the lowest his approval rating can get ??
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Hi Rachel,,,”HO’HAY ARBUSTO” will not care,,,The Libo-Kraps
Will not care,,,It’s New World Order/NAU time for them,,,
IF THIS BILL PASSES !!,,,This bell cannot be “unrung”...
Clout? What clout?
Impeach
Yeah, that one’s a keeper for sure.
Enforce the law and build the damn fence, simple.
Damn good question!
Post of the day!!
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