The needs of our economy

Bush closed his speech with an exaggerated version of his patented one-corner-of-his-mouth-going-up-and-one-corner-of-his-mouth-going-down expression, so it is hard to tell if he was satisfied or not. I predict he won’t be satisfied at all with how this issue shakes down. Increased border security will give fuel to the left’s righteous hatred for the president. the amnesty proposal will turn a confused base into one that is actively hostile. And Bush’s economy-worship should alienate all but committed Neoliberals and simplistic libertarians.

A progressive critique of the speech would point out that it means a lot of poor people will be locked up, and that any mention of locking up employers was conspicuously absent. A conservative critique would point out that Bush’s claim that he is not proposing amnesty is insulting. Bush insisted citizenship was “not automatic” because payment of a fine was required. Doesn’t applying for citizenship always involve a fee? And it is telling that bush never told us what the “grandfather” period would be for currently illegal aliens...

Progressives and cultural conservatives should find common ground on the key passages of the speech. Bush said “Our nation needs an immigration system that serves the American economy....” and at one point he referred to the “needs of our economy.” This prioritization of the economy, implicitly a deprioritization of our society, will win bush no points from either quarter.

In a new phraseology, bush said immigrants do work “Americans are not doing,” but in the transcript, at least, he fell back on referring to jobs “that American citizens are not willing to take....” He also said:

Reform must begin by confronting a basic fact of life and economics: some of the jobs being generated in America's growing economy are jobs American citizens are not filling.

and

[I]mmigration laws should serve the economic needs of our country.

Americans aren’t filling the jobs at issue because the pay is too low and/or the conditions are too lousy. Pay could be increased and conditions could be negotiated upon. But Bush sees the economy as an independent entity that has its own needs; the jobs it creates on any given day are a simple fact of nature.

p.s. The democratic response brought up the fact that the National Guard was both overburdened and needed for reserve in the face of inevitable natural disaster and terrorism. Seems like we are facing a crisis crisis: too many crises for our crisis management capabilities to handle...