President Bush has just finished meeting with Republican Senators regarding the proposed immigration bill, which failed to get sufficient votes for cloture last week. Framer at Arizona 8th had a series of posts on the matter discussing why it failed (see his entries for June 5-7) from his perspective, and there is of course a lot of analysis elsewhere.
I have said elsewhere that, while I may not like some of the specifics of the proposed bill, I like the general outline; I.e., some mixture of enforcement, citizenship and guest-workers. It's virtually the only thing the President and I agree on (which I tell him every time he and I talk). While on some level, I appreciate his additional efforts, I just don't see how he wins from this.
The President has no political capital to spend -- he's wasted it all profligately on Iraq. As a result, his credibility and popularity are at near-record lows (Nixon saves him from bottoming out). Unlike a couple years ago, when he was flying high and everyone was looking to catch a ride on his coattails, there is no incentive whatsoever for Republican Senators to come over to his views.
Framer correctly noted there was a fair bit of liberal resistance to the bill for various reasons, but it remains true that most (or, at least, the most vocal) opposition came from conservatives screaming "amnesty" and "enforcement". With his meeting today, Bush places the Senators from his party in the position of either very publicly breaking with their President over an isue he clearly feels is important, or maintaining their current views (which seem to be popular with their base voters, at least). Given the lack of capital noted above, I'm betting the base wins. Another public defeat, on top of everything else (Iraq, prosecutors, Libby) can only weaken the administration even further.
Which brings me around to my real point -- while, in this specific case I might find myself in agreement with the President's aim, his continued mulishness in the face of dissent is just yet another symptom of an ongoing problem. Bush's determination to force through his desires, despite any opposition from Congress, despite the views of the electorate, despite foreign opinion, despite anything, has led this country to disaster.
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2 comments:
Terrific post, and just wanted to say that.
Even though I quit my job, I am positively buried. Not sure what your stats are showing you, but I do read your blog and think you are posting excellent material. When I have more time I will interact here more.
Not to sound snobbish, but I do believe you post at a level "the masses" cannot consume.
Neither does Robert Reich, but he's a lot more famous than Sirocco or x4mr.
Thanks for the kind words. I do seem to have a few regular readers, although you seem to be the only one who posts ... which is fine. I started this thing primarily as a means of coalescing my thoughts on various matters, and I know my writing style is a barrier to casual readers.
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