Bush does indeed want to be the First Hispanic President, just as Clinton was referred to as the First Black President.
And Bush is a stubborn guy, if nothing else. Once he makes his mind up, he stays with it. So, besides throwing a few bones to the enforcement-oriented majority of the country, he is sticking with his plan. And plenty of smart guys are with him on this, like Tony Snow and Kristol and others.
I do not see their position as pure political calculation, but maybe as secondarily so, because all of these Mexican kids born in the US will be able to vote in just a few years. No, I believe that Bush and others believe it is the right thing to do - the virtual amnesty and all that.
At Maggie's Farm we believe in managed, controlled immigration. We are not "a nation of immigrants" - we are a nation descended from immigrants, with, until recently, a small percentage of immigrants. An experiment such as Bush and the Senate propose - a Katrina-force flood of immigration into a settled and reasonably assimilated country - has rarely occcurred in history without force of arms. This is our country, and we do not want to be the guinea pig. If that is "nativist," then fine. Every nation is and must be nativist to a degree, if they value their culture and traditions and their approach to life.
I doubt that any citizen would welcome 100 million new immigrant citizens in 20 years. We need to bear in mind that much of the world's population would rather be in the US than where they are, and it's much easier to move than to fix your own country. If someone wants to come to the US, my message is to imitate the US where you live.
Linknzona has an analysis of the details of the speech, along with a bit of a rant:
Something is seriously wrong. President Bush seems hell bent on putting the interests of Mexico ahead of the interests of the US; he seems hell bent on rewarding criminals at the expense of legal immigrants and US citizens; he seems hell bent on doing anything and everything to further the interests of Mexico and its millions of illegal immigrants; and he seems devoted to this cause beyond all reasoning and understanding.
He also adds this info - everyone needs to be heard, regardless of how they feel:
Here is a site where you can email Repub Senators as they consider immigration legislations.
Here is the White House Site, where you can contact the President.
And here is a site where you can register and send free fax messages to all members of Congress and the White House. It is an excellent, personalized, and free site.
Image shamelessly emigrated from here.
