The Speech: All in All, Not Bad

[Update 6:00 pm : Hugh Hewitt just finished interviewing Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Julie Myers. And stunningly, it sounded as though the Administration was backing away from the concept of any kind of physical fencing. She effectively refused to concede any benefits from physical fencing despite Hugh having offered her numerous attempts to do so. If her articulated views are representative of those of the Administration, it spells disaster from both a political and policy standpoint.]

President Bush is obviously beginning to understand the depth and passion of Americans' concerns about illegal immigration. His speech tonight was cast almost completely in the context of border security.

But let's take the beginning first. To my mind, perhaps the strongest part of the President's speech came near the end. By calling on immigrants to learn to read/write/speak English and respect the American flag, he addressed the unspoken but very real concerns of many Americans who have, for too long, suspected that either the elites are either too politically correct to call for assimilation -- or that they lack the cultural confidence to do so. In my view, a lot of the really intense anger at the Administration policy on the part of some in the Republican base has sprung from this perception; it will be interesting to see if what the President said is enough to help it begin to abate.

Certainly, the speech was hardly perfect. To some extent, the President fudged the distinction between "virtual security," (that is, the "high tech fences" that he prescribed for urban areas) versus the "barriers" that would be directed toward rural areas. It matters how much of which goes where -- and just how that determination will be made and exactly what it means isn't clear. The fact that he alluded to "manpower and technology" at the speech's outset doesn't engender a lot of confidence that he's thinking in terms of substantial, numerous physical impediments. This matters -- but we'll have to wait and see.

It's worth noting that the President called for holding employers to account. That's important for some of the disgruntled citizens who believe that Republicans like President Bush are soft on illegal immigration to help "big corporations" keep wages low. Significantly, he likewise called for tamper-proof identification cards for workers -- an indispensable step in being able to enforce immigration laws.

The President wisely spent some time explaining why his temporary worker program (which, notably, didn't mention jobs Americans "won't do," instead recasting them as jobs Americans "aren't doing") and his "path to citizenship" cannot fairly be characterized as amnesty. It's important, and right, that law-abiding Americans understand that law-breaking isn't being overlooked or condoned. Again, there is some devil in the details, but the overall principle the President articulated seems right to me.

And, in my view, it was fitting that President Bush alluded at the end to the inherent dignity of all mankind, legal or not. It was a timely reminder and a clarification to those on the left and the right that this debate isn't about animus against illegal immigrants as people or as workers -- it's about America claiming the right and fulfilling the duty of securing its own borders, the prerogative of every sovereign nation.