A week ago, I had an item suggesting the president doesn’t really care about the immigration deal he struck with congressional leaders. If he did care, he’d do what he did when touting his war policy and his plan to privatize Social Security: give enthusiastic speeches, use his Bully Pulpit, lash out at critics, etc.
To be fair, I should note, by way of follow-up, that the president appears to be taking the immigration proposal far more seriously this week. Indeed, Bush is doing what comes naturally — questioning the motives and patriotism of those who dare to disagree with him.
President Bush attacked opponents of an immigration deal Tuesday, suggesting they “don’t want to do what’s right for America.”
“The fundamental question is, will elected officials have the courage necessary to put a comprehensive immigration plan in place,” Bush said against a backdrop of a huge American flag. […]
“Those determined to find fault with this bill will always be able to look at a narrow slice of it and find something they don’t like,” the president said. “If you want to kill the bill, if you don’t want to do what’s right for America, you can pick one little aspect out of it. (emphasis added)
“You can use it to frighten people,” Bush said. “Or you can show leadership and solve this problem once and for all.”
It’s a classic Bush argument. The president believes his immigration policy is the right thing for America, so if you have a different policy idea, you necessarily “don’t want to do what’s right for America.”
In this case, most of the strongest critics of the White House policy are on the right, which — you guessed it — means Bush just slapped his base pretty hard.
The AP feed quoting Bush is still fairly new, so there aren’t too many reactions available, but this one, from a far-right blogger, seems like the kind of thing we’ll be seeing quite a bit more of later today.
I, apparently, “don’t want to do what’s right for America” — and neither do millions of other Republicans, at least according to President Bush.
That’s because I’m not ready to sign on — lock, stock and barrel — to an immigration plan that is deeply flawed, most significantly because it lacks the controls to ensure that this country is not infiltrated by jihadists.
It’s hard to figure out what advantage President Bush sees in attacking those of good conscience who disagree with him. Many of them happen to be some of his staunchest allies in the war on terror, and it isn’t clear how it serves him to insult them gratuitously.
Bush was probably just acting on instinct — those who disagree with him are perceived as the enemy. They don’t need outreach; they need to be smeared, relentlessly.
I have a hunch the right isn’t going to respond well to this. Stay tuned.