Michelle is completely unimpressed. Hugh is disappointed. Ed is lukewarm. John believes that Bush has blown his last chance to rescue his second term. They're shaking their heads at NRO's The Corner. One observer says we need Jack Bauer and we're getting Mr. Rogers.
I agree with all of them. The President clearly had a chance to lay out a credible plan to solve the problem of illegal immigration, and all he did was recommend a band aid for a hemorrhage. Troops are a short term fix and building more detention centers so that captured border-crossers don't have to be released in this country is insulting, as is offering illegals a pathway to citizenship. This was another Harriet Miers moment for the President, unfortunately.
Any solution that does not include a state of the art fence along the length of the border with Mexico is simply a waste of money and effort. We have in the past thought George Bush had the chance to be a historic president. Tonight the only people who will think that are illegal immigrants and those who aspire to be.
We look for the President's job approval numbers to continue bobbing up and down in the mid-thirties. They would go lower except, like scoring 200 on the SATs, they can't get any lower.