President Bush Misses Another Opportunity

President Bush laid out his "plan" for immigration reform at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona.

All I really wanted to hear the President say was that in order to be allowed to participate in the temporary worker program illegal aliens would have return to their homeland.

Was that too much too ask? It must have been. Yes, I wanted President Bush to choose sides between a temporary worker program we can all agree does not offer another amnesty to illegal aliens instead of one that will cause endless arguments about whether it rewards illegal aliens and encourages more illegal immigration. This is what the President said about a temporary worker program:

As we enforce our immigration laws, comprehensive immigration reform also requires us to improve those laws by creating a new temporary worker program. This program would create a legal way to match willing foreign workers with willing American employers to fill jobs that Americans will not do. Workers would be able to register for legal status for a fixed period of time, and then be required to go home. This program would help meet the demands of a growing economy, and it would allow honest workers to provide for their families while respecting the law.

This plan would also help us relieve pressure on the border. By creating a legal channel for those who enter America to do an honest day's labor, we would reduce the number of workers trying to sneak across the border. This would free up law enforcement officials to focus on criminals, drug dealers, terrorists and others that mean to harm us. Our plan would create a tamper-proof identification card for the temporary legal worker, which, of course, would improve work site enforcement.

Listen, there's a lot of opinions on this proposal -- I understand that. But people in this debate must recognize that we will not be able to effectively enforce our immigration laws until we create a temporary worker program. The program that I proposed would not create an automatic path to citizenship, it wouldn't provide for amnesty -- I oppose amnesty. Rewarding those who have broken the law would encourage others to break the law and keep pressure on our border. (Applause.)

A temporary worker program, by contrast, would decrease pressure on the border. I support the number of -- increasing the number of annual green cards that can lead to citizenship. But for the sake of justice and for the sake of border security, I'm not going to sign an immigration bill that includes amnesty. (Applause.)

Instead of choosing sides, the President left the details of the temporary worker program to be fleshed out by Congress. He left us with a promise. He promised not to sign an immigration bill that includes an amnesty. But that is an empty promise because President Bush thinks that if illegal aliens are required to pay a fine they should then be allowed to participate in his temporary worker program. The President believes that is not an amnesty. Allowing illegal aliens to buy their way into a temporary worker program by paying a fine and not requiring them to return to their homeland before being eligible to participate is rewarding their illegal conduct and it is an amnesty.

I'm disappointed. The President, as he did when he nominated Miers for the Supreme Court, missed an opportunity to rally the troops and unite his base.

The President's entire speech is available here.

UPDATE: I wasn't the only one dissapointed by the President's speech:

At Instapundit, Glen Reynolds notes the speech got bad reviews.

Michelle Malkin didn't like it.

At The Moderate Voice, Joe Gandelman roundsup reaction from the mainstream and the blogosphere.