March 16, 2007
What the hell?
There are times when I simply cannot -- can not! -- understand what Pres. Bush is thinking.
This would be one of those times.
"My pledge to you and your government, but more important to the people of Mexico, is I'll work as hard as I possibly can to pass comprehensive immigration reform," Bush said during a sun-splashed arrival ceremony that opened two days of meetings with Mexican President Felipe Calderon.
No U.S. President should be roaming the world in the best of times, pledging to foreigners that he’ll be working for their interests.
Call me old fashioned, call me parochial, hell, call me a jingoistic, red-blooded American patriotic fool, but the president of the United States -- my president – best be devoting himself morning, noon and night to working as hard as he can for the citizens of his own damn nation.
Pres. Bush has been cut a lot of slack by conservatives, who disagree with his positions on many issues but recognize that the man does what he thinks is right. Unlike his predecessor, no one can reasonably accuse Pres. Bush of sticking a finger in the air and changing policies based upon prevailing winds.
But this is simply incomprehensible. More than 60 percent of Americans support cracking down on illegal immigrants – and the firms that employ them. And they're we're right!
Americans are engaged in a poisonous national debate on the war in Iraq, terrorist regimes are getting nuclear weapons, and people are streaming across our southern borders with little impediment.
Worried about nukes? The best way to get one into the U.S. would be to hide it in a bale of marijuana and strap the drugs to the back of an illegal alien just south of the border.
Don’t give a damn about national security? How ‘bout the economy?
Despite the doom and gloom predictions, in those cities where raids have targeted illegals, businesses have responded by raising wages to levels that appeal to U.S. citizens – and they’re hiring … Americans.
Which is why Blacks are becoming more vocal in their demands for border enforcement; more jobs at decent wages when the Mexican citizens go home.
When Pres. Bush promises “comprehensive immigration reform” to Mexicans, he’s essentially flipping the bird to unemployed Americans – Black, White, and every shade in between.
What makes his statement even more infuriating is that it comes in the same week that a Mexican official recognized that Mexico needs to get its economic house in order, before it starts making demands on the U.S.
Which is a perfect bit of symmetry: A U.S. president telling Mexicans what they want to hear, and a Mexican official telling them what they need to hear.
Posted by Mike Lief at March 16, 2007 12:40 AM
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