August 01, 2005

Why isn't Bush doing the job he swore he'd do?

Matthew Dowd, "who was the chief strategist for the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign, is the senior adviser to the Republican National Committee" has a guest editorial in the NYT entitled "The Mexican Evolution".

Basically, it says that because of the lower birth rate in Mexico, we don't need to worry that much about illegal immigration from that country. In fact, he thinks we might have seen the highwater mark.

That's a relief! It's good to know that President Bush is not doing the job he swore in an oath to do because of very long-term trends.

To cut to the chase, let's look at this little nugget:

...What's more, businesses that depend on a steady supply of low-paid illegal immigrants to keep costs down - restaurants, farms, construction companies - will most likely need to adapt by increasing salaries and benefits so they can attract legal immigrants or citizens as workers...

What's wrong with that analysis? Obviously, those businesses that rely on illegal labor that undercuts American wages aren't just going to raise their wages and benefits if no Mexicans are available. They're simply going to start over again with people from some other country. There are dozens to choose from. In fact, Mexico could transform itself from sending its own people to making money off sending people from other countries. See the OTM issue for a preview. And, of course, there's a whole cottage industry of pundits, "human rights" groups, business leaders, and so on that advocates for cheap labor. That industry is not going to dissolve itself willingly.

Since that part of his analysis is clearly wrong, there's little reason to read the rest unless you want to see just how out of touch the administration is. Nevertheless, there are many other questionable nuggets in this analysis, including a few smears.

The bottom line is that it's quite clear that not only is Bush not doing the job he swore to do, he's opposing the will of the vast majority of Americans on this issue.

If this is the administration's answer to illegal immigration, it's time to impeach.

UPDATE: Calling all population and GDP statistics nerds! Disingenuous Dowd's editorial is criticized in depth here:

...Dowd advises us all to just lie back and enjoy illegal immigration for 20 more years, and then it will go away... Obviously, he wants us to ignore the damage illegal immigration will do to America between now and 2025, and how much trouble all the illegals who get in between now and then will continue to wreak after 2025...

UPDATE 2: Mark Krikorian responds here.

Posted to Immigration2005b at August 1, 2005 12:30 PM

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