On the President's Speech

President Bush addressed the nation tonight in a rare address from the Oval Office on the subject of immigration reform and border security. In other news, I received Neil Young’s new CD, Living With War in the mail today–Living With War is an anti-Bush album, with tracks decrying the war and calling for Bush’s impeachment.

And suddenly, he goes silent on NPR.

Of all the pressing concerns facing the nation–like the ongoing situation in Iraq and the shakiness of the economy–why is increasing the size of the Border Patrol worthy of addressing the nation?

I feel as though I’m missing a vital piece of information here. Is Bush playing to his base? Is he genuinely that concerned with securing the southern border? I don’t get it.

The foreign worker program. I’m not clear on the importance of this. Again, why does Bush need to go to the nation as a whole to propose this?

How is the President’s proposal to allow illegal immigrants to apply for citizenship not amnesty for their illegal immigration? He said there would be penalties, but he said nothing about what those penalties would be, except getting in line.

Why does the President care what Congress’s comprehensive immigration bill says? Signing statements will make Congress’s words into whatever the President wants them to mean.

And now it’s done. What a waste of time.

Published by Allyn

A writer, editor, journalist, sometimes coder, occasional historian, and all-around scholar, Allyn Gibson is the writer for Diamond Comic Distributors' monthly PREVIEWS catalog, used by comic book shops and throughout the comics industry, and the editor for its monthly order forms. In his over ten years in the industry, Allyn has interviewed comics creators and pop culture celebrities, covered conventions, analyzed industry revenue trends, and written copy for comics, toys, and other pop culture merchandise. Allyn is also known for his short fiction (including the Star Trek story "Make-Believe,"the Doctor Who short story "The Spindle of Necessity," and the ReDeus story "The Ginger Kid"). Allyn has been blogging regularly with WordPress since 2004.

2 thoughts on “On the President's Speech

  1. Pretty much the only reason he did was because the administration was getting lambasted by his own supporters in wake of the immigrant protests.

    However, he had to make sure his Hispanic supporters were happy too hence the amnesty-but-not-amnesty initiatives.

    He was trying to be all things to all people on the issue and failed miserably, as usual.

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