I like Charles Krauthammer. Really. By and large, I find his columns to be wonderfully cogent and fully expressive of the conservative values that many Americans hold dear. But there must be something in the water in Washington, D.C., or, to paraphrase an expression coined by Mr. Krauthammer himself, perhaps Beltway Derangement Syndrome (his was Bush Derangement Syndrome) truly exists. Charles rightly "Krauthammered" president Obama's immigration speech of last week--and then went right off the rails himself.
Mr. Krauthammer observed that the president's two most recent speeches--and I would submit every speech the president gives between now and election day in 2012--are following a script: "The El Paso speech is notable not for breaking any new ground on immigration, but for perfectly illustrating Obama's political style: the professorial, almost therapeutic, invitation to civil discourse, wrapped around the basest of rhetorical devices--charges of malice compounded with accusations of bad faith." He further nails Mr. Obama for the other integral part of his speeches which he refers to as "breathtaking invention and the statistical sleight of hand." For those with a less sophisticated vocabulary than Mr. Krauthammer, that means the president is a liar who manipulates numbers to his advantage.
And Mr. Obama did tell one of the bigger whoppers of his career in El Paso. Calling the border fence "basically complete," he's hoping Americans will focus on the word "complete," instead of the weasel-word "basically." That's because what is "basically complete" is 650 miles of the 670 miles of fencing required by the
Secure Fence Act of 2006. The other 1300 miles of our southern border? The sieve it has always been. But that only tells half the story. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) reveals the depth of the president's lie: "Of the nearly 2,000 miles separating the U.S. and Mexico, only 129 miles are under 'full control' of the Border Patrol. The report found that 873 miles are under 'operational control,' which is only 44 percent of the entire Southern border."
Thus, when the president accused Republicans of "trying to move the goal posts on us one more time" or of wanting a "higher fence," "a moat," or "alligators in the moat," he was lying so transparently that only the Open Borders crowd, and the mainstream media--or perhaps after one reads this damning
article by Dan Gainor a better name for them might be the Soros Shock Troops--can take him seriously. Again Mr. Krauthammer puts such lying in proper perspective, noting that you can believe Mr. Obama's "flimflam or you can believe the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office...[which]undermines the entire premise of Obama's charge that, because the border is effectively secure, 'Republicans who said they supported broader reform as long as we got serious about enforcement' didn't really mean it."
So far so good. Then the bottom drops out. Krauthammer: "I count myself among those who really do mean it. I have little doubt that most Americans would be quite willing to regularize and legalize the current millions of illegal immigrants if they were convinced...that the border is under full operational control..." noting that Americans "are a generous people" and that "[U]pon receipt of objective and reliable evidence that the border is secure...the question would be settled and the immigrants legalized."
Americans are indeed a "generous people," Mr. Krauthammer. But they are not utterly stupid. Nor do they have amnesia.
The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 granted amnesty to 2.7 million illegal aliens then, ostensibly in return for stricter control of the border and harsher penalties on businesses who hired border-busters. What did we get? One-for-three, which is precisely why we now have an exponential increase in the number of illegals residing in America, who along with their enablers, are
demanding, not requesting, amnesty.
And I use the word "exponential" instead of a hard number because Americans are also not buying the "conventional wisdom" that we currently have 11 million illegals in the country. That number is nothing more than another lie perpetrated by those on both sides of the aisle with a vested interest--as in cheap votes for Democrats, and cheap labor for Republicans--in satisfying the bankrupt desires of people who would toss America itself over the cliff to enhance their political power or satisfy their financial greed.
Question, Mr. Krauthammer. Do numbers matter? Does your sense of American generosity remain unperturbed if we're talking about 30 million illegals--or more? Does it include "chain migration" or "family re-unification" by which those granted amnesty could bring their extended families to America as well? Perhaps these are inconvenient questions in Washington, D.C., but they're substantially less inconvenient to millions upon millions of unemployed and under-employed Americans. They're substantially less inconvenient to people whose communities are under assault, or those who have been directly victimized by illegals' criminal activity, or those disgusted by politicians who grant privileges to illegals unavailable to American citizens.
And they're sure as hell less than inconvenient questions for those Americans who still believe in the rule of law--as opposed to an odious expediency which amounts to, "there's nothing we can do to stop X, so we may as well make it legal, or my personal favorite, "there's no way we can deport X amount of illegals, because it's impossible."
That canard was echoed by fellow columnist George Will in his own brush with Beltway Derangement Syndrome in 2010, when he opined that Americans would have a "healthy aversion" to removing "nearly 11 million illegal immigrants, 60 percent of whom have been here for more than five years," noting that it would take "200,000 buses in a bumper-to-bumper convoy 1,700 miles long to carry them back to the border."
No it wouldn't, George. It would take a few years of
genuine border enforcement coupled with serious penalties for businesses who hire illegals. It would take eliminating sanctuary cities, social services in all but emergency cases, and privileges, such as in-state college tuition, drivers' licenses, and credit cards. it would take enforcement of already
existing laws conspicuously ignored by a Justice Department whose concept of equal treatment under the law is the most compromised in American history.
If such were to occur, illegals, realizing the odious game America is currently engaged in is over, would deport themselves. One at a time, day in day out. Month in, month out, year after year.
Just like the current budget battle, trajectories, not immediate results, matter. The 56 percent of Americans who believe this country is moving in the wrong direction intuitively understand that. Just like our debt will not be paid off overnight, nether will millions of illegals be removed immediately. But the trend in both arenas must become unmistakable.
Mr. Krauthammer, it's tough enough taking on those like our president and others, for whom the words "illegal" and "undocumented" are interchangeable, and for whom borders are "anachronisms." It's tough enough taking on those who would turn America into a transnational elitist warehouse of non-citizen and citizen workers, competing for the same jobs, and for whom the rule of law is an impediment to be swept away--in the spirit of "generosity," no less.
Since I find most of your work spot on, I take no particular pleasure in criticizing you, sir. But I suspect far more Americans, all the generosity in the world notwithstanding, are more aligned with enforcing the law than capitulating to expediency--
again, as they did in 1986. I'm betting they believe that making a mockery of the millions of people who have come here legally and contributed to the greatness of this nation, is a bridge too far. I'm betting that the one thing that separates the majority of Americans from the split-the-difference crowd is an over-riding belief in one simple idea:
An exceptional nation is a terrible thing to waste.
