Congeries of cross connected concepts
It seems to me that President Bush has a narrow but viable path out of his current immigration dilemma, based on his speech last night. The two key aspects would be the fence and assimilation. Bush would need to take both of those very seriously and push hard on them.
The assimilation issue would be an excellent with which to break the Democratic Party. It was, after all, Democratic Party leaders who spiked the most recent attempt at legislating a compromise bill because it had an amendment that would have deported illegal immigrants convicted of felonies while in the USA. That’s not a position even the most rabid open border supporters in the GOP would take . Yet, there is the Democratic Party staking it out (and House Minority Leader Pelosi has already condemned the ‘mean spirited’ House bill). A push for assimilation would be even worse, as the Democratic Party would not be able to embrace that without its own fissures and lose of base, yet it would be a wildly popular position (I would guess a basic 80/20 split). Based on other votes and polls, I suspect it would likely be majority popular among the illegal immigrants themselves. It’s an issue that has caught the attention of the American Street. It would seem a most excellent stick with which to beat Bush’s opponents on the Left.
On the other side, a serious effort at border control would likely placate the rebels on Bush’s right. Bush could indulge in his free spending habits because how could the GOP object to such spending, after it was so strongly demanded? We could also finally see whether the American Street is in fact willing to pay for real border security. Either it is, in which case Bush plasters over the GOP fissure, or it’s not, in which case the issue goes away and Bush plasters over the GOP fissure.
UPDATE: Looks like Instapundit thinks the assimilation theme is a big deal as well.
