Obama sends troops to border – Krauthammer: Get the unemployed to work, complete the fence

President Obama, after meeting with Senate Republicans yesterday announces he intends to spend $500 million dollars and send 1200 ANG troops to the border to help stop illegal immigration. Is Obama caving to pressure or just a well timed head fake? Well, based on what Republicans asked for, it’s a sham.From the AP:

Arizona Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl have been urging such a move, and Republicans planned to try to require it as an amendment to a pending war spending bill.

In a speech Tuesday on the Senate floor, McCain said the situation on the U.S.-Mexico border has “greatly deteriorated.” He called for 6,000 National Guard troops to be sent, and he asked for $250 million more to pay for them.

“I appreciate the additional 1,200 being sent … as well as an additional $500 million, but it’s simply not enough,” McCain said.

McCain’s amendment would direct the defense secretary to deploy the National Guard troops. The letter from Jones and Brennan took scathing aim at that approach.

“It represents an unwarranted interference with the commander in chief’s responsibilities to direct the employment of our armed forces,” Jones and Brennan wrote.

Senator Kyle (R,AZ) says most of the ANG work will be desk jobs which would seem to buttress the “sham” argument, meant just to make a President, who seems to rely heavily on style over substance, look like he is compromising on stopping the flow of illegals. But Charles Krauthammer, last night, said he believes it is all smoke and mirrors. That if you want to stop the flow of illegals, “plug the damn hole”, so to speak.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEE1ypHpDsA

Not a bad idea, which is why it won’t get done.

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Jim Vicevich

Jim is a veteran broadcaster and conservative/libertarian blogger with more than 25 years experience in TV and radio. Jim's was the long-term host of The Jim Vicevich Show on WTIC 1080 in Hartford from 2004 through 2019. Prior to radio, Jim worked as a business and financial reporter for NBC30 - the NBC owned TV station in Hartford - and as business editor at WFSB-TV in Hartford for 14 years while earning six Emmy nominations and three Telly Awards.

6 Comments

  1. David R on May 26, 2010 at 3:39 am

    Like I hear the little girl say on Jim's show: "I worry", mostly that each party in the two party system, wants it to be a one party system.  I worry that there's no good data on the cost and benefits of sealing our massive southern border.  I worry that this has become another political brick bat with which to bludgeon the opposition. Don't stats show that illegal immigration has slowed a lot in recent years?  So why are we freaking out, when we have national crises that are in greater need of immediate attention? If Joe Scarborough is correct: Republicans want illegals for cheap labor and Dems want them for the votes, then why all  the hot air? And I am someone who initially applauded the state of Arizona for raising the issue to national prominence, but I think we need to face it with all the facts and options on the table. Immigration reform is not simply a matter of  more troops or build baby build, but if we listen to the pot stirrers that's all we will ever consider.



  2. OkieJim on May 26, 2010 at 4:22 am

    This confirms that our Young President is, in fact, either a bald-faced liar or an idiot — or both. 1,200 troops to help cover 1,952 miles of border territory 24×7 is nowhere near enough. Do the math — that'd be 1 person for 1.62 miles around the clock. Multiply that figure by 10 (sorry, Senator McCain, you didn't ask for enough) and you're closer to what it would take. Of course, this move is a political head fake: the rules of engagement will be such that these troops never see a square centimeter of desert. Politics over people; business as usual from this bunch in Washington.



  3. PatRiot on May 26, 2010 at 12:55 pm

    To Jones & Brennan – Neither Obama, Bush or either of their Congresses took the repsonsibility they should have.  But when the state and a Congressman (finally) tries to take care of it – Ohhhh nooooo….

    And McCain's action is strictly to save his political heini.  He needed to do this years ago.

    Note to Obama – Illegal immigration is slavery.  Not in my America.  Been there, done that, don't wanna go back.



  4. David R on May 26, 2010 at 3:29 pm

    Is something wrong when the US spends about as much (some say more) money than the rest of the world combined on the military and we can't scare up enough personnel to patrol the border, or help in the clean up of the Gulf Coast?  Something was wrong years ago too when we sent  our troops to fight an elective war without adequate personal and vehicle armor.  Part of the deal, according to some ex-military I've talked to, is the military presence we have in 150 or so countries. I'm told host countries don't want them closed because of the economic benefit to their countries: just like in the US when any attempt is made to close a base or stop a weapons program. My guess is if you want more troops on the border, you've got to end some these foreign and domestic military jobs programs. You might say our sacred cow, the military industrial complex that Eisenhower warned about has become the world's biggest jobs program….an entitlement program of sorts for corporations, foreign countries and congressional districts. 



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