Posted on 11/10/2006 8:23:08 AM PST by Graybeard58
WASHINGTON -- President Bush and Mexican President-elect Felipe Calderon pledged Thursday to work closely on pressing bilateral issues ranging from trade and border security to migration, which Bush said remains a top priority for his administration.
After their meeting -- the first between the two -- Bush told reporters, " I assured the president-elect that the words I said . . . about a comprehensive immigration vision are words that I still believe strongly."
Calderon added, "We both understand that the only solution to many of the problems that we have is to create well-paid jobs in Mexico."
He described the meeting as "very cordial, respectful, frank and very constructive."
U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza predicted that the two leaders "will enjoy a positive and constructive relationship based not only on the obvious chemistry . . . but more importantly on their commitment to shared values like democracy, creating economic opportunity, reducing poverty, and the safety and security of our two countries."
Still, while the two leaders appeared upbeat, privately some observers said the men are far from becoming two amigos, a phrase coined to describe the friendship between Bush and outgoing Mexican President Vicente Fox.
The meeting comes at a vulnerable time for the two men, both of whom face pressing domestic issues. Washington's political landscape shifted after Tuesday's election, meaning that Bush must work with a Congress led by Democrats. And in Mexico, Calderon must deal with several important issues, including a smoldering crisis in the southern state of Oaxaca and violence from the country's growing drug war, which has left more than 1,800 people dead this year.
Three bombs exploded this week in Mexico City, and on Thursday, Mexican authorities discovered bomb-making material in the central state of Guanajuato.
Additionally, Calderon's presidential challenger, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, far from conceding defeat, will proclaim himself president on Nov. 20th and is expected to name a cabinet on Saturday. More than a dozen Lopez Obrador supporters heckled Calderon throughout his visit to Washington.
Calderon's trip was marked by muted optimism that with Democrats in charge, an immigration accord is possible.
"I was strongly struck by President Bush's comments where he said that the new Congress could open new possibilities of understanding," Calderon said, adding, "This is a very interesting moment" for both countries to pursue the issue of comprehensive migration.
But while a Democrat-led Congress is likely to be more sympathetic to a guest-worker program that Bush favors, pushing for legalization for immigrants will still prove a tough sell, analysts said Thursday.
"These are moderate Democrats who ran in Republican districts and won," said Steven Camarota, director of research for the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates restrictions on immigration. "Asking these guys to go back to their districts and tell their constituents that they favor amnesty (for immigrants) will be tough."
Sorry Mr. President, but this time I don't believe you'll do a damn thing about illegal immigration.
We don't need no stinkin' fences!
Yes, he will. He'll give them all amnesty and invite more in with a "guest-worker program".
Mexico needs to clean up Mexico.
Sorry Mr. President, Labor costs will close your factories. See our country.
They are agreeing on where to put the unlocked gates in the new border fence.
"Comprehensive immigration vision" = picture *everyone* in Mexico moving here :-D.
Mr. Bush why dont you splain "comprehensive "to that Mom who got hammered then hung in a shower until dead.
With the President-Elect paying homage to America's first female president-to-be...
The problem is that the American jobs transferred to Mexico under NAFTA didn't stay there, but kept on going to China.
Well thank god we showed the republicans who is boss and booted out the one body that was attempting to stop this BS...
The border was my hot button issue in this election...which the administration did absolutely nothing about...fences notwithstanding!! GWB had an agreement with outgoing FOX on the border thing and probably will with the new guy too. We don't know what it is and probably never will...but the GOP's lock out on the issue says everything...and the President as much as said so in his statement after the election...look out Mexico...open borders!! Come on up...free jobs, high minimum wages, free housing, free health care, free social security, free everything...just ask when you go to the grocery store!!
If I hear or read the phrase "doing the jobs Americans won't do" one more time......
"Well thank god we showed the republicans who is boss and booted out the one body that was attempting to stop this BS... "
They did not stop squat...they just slowed it down.
Well...keep us posted because Bush, among others, can't stop saying it.
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