Fred Barnes Tries To Salvage The Bush "Agenda"

Fred Barnes, writing in the hidden temple of the Wall Street Journal, ponders Bush's legacy and the fate of the Republican Presidential hopefuls come 2008.  His launching point is the grim outcomes achieved by Truman in 1952, Eisenhower in 1960, and Johnson in 1968, none of whom could push their successor to victory.  Truman and Johnson were burdened by difficult and unpopular wars, obviously, as is Bush.

But Reagan managed it in 1988!  And this despite a grim 1987 marred by Iran-Contra and a bout with cancer (Barnes has forgotten the 1987 stock market crash, as will we.)

So what, Barnes wonders, might Bush do?  Push for comprehensive immigration reform!  Ahhh!  No, he is not kidding - this will demonstrate Bush's bipartisan leadership ability and take off the table a puzzle that would otherwise divide Reps in 2008.

Whatever.  Barnes sounded forth the trumpet that will never blow defeat in May 2006, and where are we now?

My guess - if there is still a Republican base left to antagonize and dispirit, a "comprehensive" reform which looks like amnesty will do it.

Comments

[cathyf]

I think you have a typo, TM. You've got a spurious 'l' in "savage." Although you got the "tries" (as in "pathetic attempt") part right. The article was just goofy -- embyonic stem cell research is the single issue that will usher in a 1000 years of Democratic Party hegemony? *snicker* You can't make this stuff up...

[Memomachine]

Hmmmmm.

In English "Fred Barnes" is pronounced "Fred Barnes".

However in ancient Sumerian "Fred Barnes" is, amazingly enough, pronounced "Complete and utter asshat".

Who could've predicted this?

[BD]

Hoo, boy ...

There's one thing that salvages the "Bush Agenda" - make progress in Iraq so obvious that even the MSM can't smother news of it.

[TerryeL]

I have to admit I am getting tired of this issue. The other day I had a talk with an enforcement only guy and he said he did not want to round up all the illegals and ship them out of the country, he just wanted to deport them all. {note the contradiction}

He wanted to make it impossible for people born here to be citizens, unless both parents already are citizens, but did not want to change any laws. {another inconsistency}

He had no problem with a guest worker program but did not want Mexicans working here and while he himself would never work the fields, he was sure someone else would.

And he did not want the government to pursue any comprehensive solutions, he just wanted the government to deal with this right now, this minute.... today. He was very irate about the whole thing.

I think that Barnes is assuming that people want to come up with some rational solutions to the long term problem. I am beginning to have my doubts about that.

For instance, a great many of the illegals in this country did not cross that border illegally. About half either came in some other way or were legal when they got here and just overstayed their visas or whatever. I really don't think that it is possible to completely secure a border as long as ours...but obviously they can do better. However, even if they did it would not deal with the larger issues of gangs as well as the stress on communities.

But it seems to me that some people just want to demagogue the issue. I am not seeing any real numbers on what it would take in terms of resources or law enforcement to deal with this strictly as an enforcement issue and often as not when you say anything like that people just starting yelling at you.

I have gotten to the place where I hate the whole issue.

[TerryeL]

I would say that if the situation in Iraq can be stabilized and if the tax cuts can be sustained along with continued growth that would be a decent legacy. Really, only time will tell what the legacy is.

[Pofarmer]

Take away the jobs for illegals and they will self deport. It has to be more expensive for employers to hire them than to not hire them. For example, require employers to verify SSN's on every new hire. Currently, they are restricted from doing even that simple thing. Even the DMV in most states can't challenge whether or not a SSN is valid. A few common sense changes would go a long way.

[Robert]

I seem to remember that Clinton had a bit of a problem getting his VP elected in 2000, although that man has gone on to become the God of Global Warming. Clinton didn't have a war or a particularly bad economy or anything - ah, that was his problem! Neither he nor Gore ever tried to actually do anything except get elected.

[manys]

This whole immigration thing sure seems like a tempest in a teapot, can anybody come up with a good reason why I should care? Better yet, why additional laws are needed?

That said, does anybody agree with Barnes? He's been long-reviled on the left, and to read the comments above I'm thinking he's playing to his own imagination.

[Semanticleo]

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