Posted on 06/27/2007 7:40:17 AM PDT by 300magnum
WASHINGTON - President Bush, short on political capital and time, is devoting much of what's left of his term in office to getting an immigration deal.
Starting with an April 9 speech in Arizona, in which he talked tough about border security and prodded Congress to get moving, Bush has staged a dozen immigration events. That's not counting his four radio addresses on the topic in that time, or his phone calls to lawmakers, or his bold prediction that he'd see reporters at the bill-signing for a bill that seemed dead.
His agenda reflects that immigration is a White House priority for multiple reasons.
It is deeply important to the president, a former Texas governor who sees the status quo on immigration as a failure for the nation and a looming disaster for his party. It is seen as a major legislative victory within reach. And it is seen as urgent — now or never for him, most likely.
So each day, a White House strategy team weighs how to maintain momentum on a bill offering legal status to millions of unlawful immigrants.
A small, core group of officials — representing policy, communications, strategy and legislative offices — organizes the approach.
There is no war room, per se, but rather meetings held in locations at the White House and on Capitol Hill. The participants vary and overlap. The president gets involved when his participation is deemed to have the most impact. His voice is the loudest, but not one to be overused, the strategy goes.
The signals often come from Candida Wolff, Bush's legislative affairs chief.
"She hollers when she wants the president's assistance in speaking to a particular member of Congress," said Joel Kaplan, the deputy chief of staff for policy. "And I expect that she'll holler a few more times before all is said and done."
Meanwhile, two of Bush's Cabinet members have made almost a full-time job of lobbying for the bill. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez may as well be considered tenants on Capitol Hill, Kaplan quipped.
When the immigration bill stalled in the Senate, Bush got personally involved in resurrecting it.
He called Republican Sens. Jon Kyl of Arizona, Trent Lott of Mississippi and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky while in Europe. On his flight back to the U.S., he called Kyl and Democratic Sens. Ken Salazar of Colorado and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts.
Then, the next day, he made a rare visit to Capitol Hill to lobby Republican senators at a closed-door meeting.
The rescue effort had at least some effect; later that week, Senate leaders reached a deal to get the bill back up for debate.
"Even a weakened president is a potent political force," said Republican strategist Rich Galen. "He may well get something out of this. I was with everyone else when the thing got pulled from the (Senate) floor, saying, 'Well, that's that.' But here it is again."
The Senate voted Tuesday to revive the bill. It must still overcome another make-or-break vote as early as Thursday that will also require the backing of 60 senators. And there is no guarantee that it will ultimately attract even the simple majority it needs to pass.
Bush is still making calls to senators, although the White House picks and chooses when it will disclose details.
"He's been on the phone," spokesman Tony Snow said Tuesday. "I'm not going to tell you how many or who he has talked to."
The president, not surprisingly, projects confidence. He talks of when, not if, the Senate will pass a bill to his liking in the coming days.
"When successful in the Senate, we'll be reconvening to figure out how to get the bill out of the House," he told advocates of his plan.
Trouble hovers there, too. Underscoring the intraparty fighting over immigration, House Republicans meeting in a private conference took the rare step Tuesday evening of voting overwhelmingly to oppose the Senate measure.
In his June 12 visit to the Capitol, Bush was gracious and grateful to fellow Republicans. At other times, his strategy has been more blunt.
Along the way, Bush has accused critics of the legislation of not reading the details of the bill; of potentially lacking courage; of engaging in scare tactics; of searching for a reason to oppose it; and of not doing what's right for America.
With all this, Bush's aides scoff at criticism that Bush should be more personally engaged in lobbying for the bill. So does he.
"My administration is deeply involved in the issue," Bush said. "I feel passionate about the issue."
(This version CORRECTS Galen's quote to say a weakened president is a "potent" force, instead of "potential" force.) )
U.S. Constitution, Article 4 Section 4:
"The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government,
1. The act of invading; the act of encroaching upon the rights or possessions of another; encroachment; trespass.
Jorge Booosh’s behavior on amnesty for criminals has been shameful. Enough said.
Interesting. For the first time in my recollection, the MSM isn’t make the Bush administration sound inept and otherwise negative. Why is that, do you think?
All you freepers that I as a bushbot convinced to vote for George Bush...I am very sorry. I was wrong. Tell me this isn’t a Republican bill. When Bush runs essentially a Clinton style war room. I didn’t see such effort for tax cuts or social security reform, judges or anything really.
Quite simple really, he is destroying the Republican Party. They are content to sit back and enjoy the ride.
“convinced to vote for George Bush”
I voted FOR him twice. No one needed to convince me. I hoped that a ‘pub congress would be conservative. Boy, was I wrong.
That’s along the lines of what I was thinking.
Boosh has political capital left? where’s he hiding it?
Why just Mexicans? Blacks in South Africa would love to be American citizens - and Blacks vote 90% for dems. Why leave them out? Are you racist? Is that why you won't sell them citizenships too?
Whomever is advising him on this fiasco needs to be on meds.
You?
I was spat on TWICE on election day 2004.
And, while I was campaigning with my 4 year old son, we had a bottle thrown out a passing car window that missed my son and I by about 3 feet.
So, I agree...I feel more than a little betrayed.
One possible explanation: family connections. His brother, Jeb, is married to a Hispanic woman and he has a nephew, George P. Bush, whom everybody thinks is going to enter politics. This could be a simple matter of Dynastic maintenance. And hey, if it sc3ws the Republican Party, so what? George P. just becomes a Democrat. If the Roosevelts can do it, why not the Bushes?
What is absolutely maddening is that we are having to fight this monstrosity coming from the Bush administration. We should be working to try to stave off a Hildebeast administration - instead, we are having to spend time, sweat, money in trying to stop the man we elected twice from ruining the country.
Yesterday, Tweety Matthews asked Ann Coulter if she regretted any remarks she had ever made about anybody. Yes, she said, “I regret everything nice I have ever said about Bush.” She added that she couldn’t wait until he was out of office. Me too.
Hey Bush, will adding 20 million new dems to the voting rolls be enough?
:::::
It is enough to re-engineer the voting demographic to turn America into a ONE-PARTY SOCIALIST STATE. Think about that.
Yeah - you should have stuck with Weird Al and Ketchup Boy.
I supported and prayed for you GW, but not so you can p!$$ down my back and tell me it's raining.
All I can say is W! T! F!???
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.