The Speech

I'd like to caveat this by saying that I did not give my full attention to Bush's immigration speech last night, as I would have had there not been a most-disappointing Pistons game on at the same time.

Overall, from what I saw, my reaction was rather blah. It didn't knock my socks off. 6,000 national guard troops on the border does not seem sufficient. I'd like to know why we can control the borders of other countries across the world (the two Koreas, etc.) but can't seem to sufficiently control ours. I liked what he said in general about everything else, but nothing will work if you don't first secure the border. At the end of the day, though, it's up to those jerks in Congress to agree on a good bill and get it before the president to sign. As Dubya said, the bill has to include methods of dealing with all aspects of the issue, not just border security and not just a guest worker program. As unhappy as I am about all of the illegals already here, rounding them up and deporting them isn't realistic. Again, I wish I could provide more thorough analysis, but I was distracted...

In other news, CNN "accidently" embarrassed the president. Yes, this was about as accidental as CBS's national guard story and CNN's X over Cheney's face. These guys are pathetic.

But apparently, the majority of people who watched the speech felt positively about it. Though since this article is from CNN.com, you have to scroll through paragraph upon paragraph of negative before you get to the "mixed results" column. The "mix" was apparently that only 42% of those polled felt positively about Dubya's immigration plan prior to the speech; that number jumped to 67% after the speech. Now, as an objective person, would you call that "mixed results" or would you say that the president's speech had a positive effect upon those who watched it? Just asking...

Another thing I found surprising... apparently TV ratings were higher for the President's speech than ABC and Fox regular programming same time last week. That's refreshing --usually people would rather watch mindless TV sitcoms than our president speak on an important issue facing our country. (Though I will say, he's lucky he didn't have to compete with American Idol...)

Whatever you thought about the speech, at least Dubya helped bring more attention to the issue and put the pressure on Congress. We have the Minute Men to thank, in my opinion, for our government even talking about much-needed immigration reform. Let's hope Congress can pass something comprehensive soon.

One thing you have to love about Dubya (or hate, depending on your party) is that at least he gets things done. We debate real issues with Republicans in charge. Name ONE major policy that was changed or accomplished under Clinton. (and the welfare reform Newt and the GOP House forced down his throat does not count) Now look at Bush --we've had tax cuts, he's tried to fix medicare and social security (thanks Democrats for putting the breaks on there), he's addressed our failing schools --sure, maybe No Child Left Behind isn't perfect and needs some adjustments, but at least we're doing something to stop schools from graduating idiots that can't pass basic knowledge tests-- we've toppled the Taliban in Afghanistan, we've removed a ruthless dictator and liberated thousands upon thousands of Arabs in the Middle East, we've exposed corruption in the U.N. and demanded reform, now we're tackling our border security and illegal immigration problem. I'm sure there's more I'm missing because I'm so tired right now...

My point is, think of every campaign you've heard for the past 30 years. What were the issues that the politicians listed as our top concerns? Fixing social security, health care reform, education reform, immigration reform, and national security. The Bush administration has dealt or tried to deal with each and every one of these issues. He didn't just talk about them like other presidents and politicians we've known...

It's real easy for Democrats who have passed no significant legislation to improve the lives of Americans in the past 30 years to sit back and criticize everything Bush and the Republicans try to do. They're pretty harsh on Bush's ideas about immigration and sit back and critique his speech like they're frickin' Ebert the film critic. But where is THEIR plan? What ideas do THEY have?

I haven't been 100% pleased with our GOP congressmen in recent months, but at least with Republicans in charge we get things done. We just don't talk and live in theories and relativities like our counterparts on the Left. Our options now seem to be vote Republican or vote the party of Ultimate Stagnation. It's great to see that Republicans can disagree on certain issues and believe me, we let our representatives know when we're upset, but at the end of the day we still know that there is no other option if we care about this country.