When Bush took to the airwaves a couple of months ago to address the nation from the Oval Office regarding immigration, I had my typical thought of Bushit, and his plan to send 6,000 National Guard troops to the border especially reeked of it. Now the very conservative Washington Times is realizing Bush’s plan has failed:
Sleep well. Your National Guard is awake. But not too well, if you live on the border. Your Guardsman is not asleep, but through no fault of his own he’s missing in action.
The Bush administration promised to put 2,500 Guardsmen on the Mexican border by the end of June, and 6,000 by the end of July, and June is gone and fewer than a thousand Guardsmen are in place. The president asked the 50 states to send troops but so far only 10 have agreed.
“It’s not a combat priority,” says Kristine Munn, a spokeswoman at the National Guard Bureau in Washington. “It’s a volunteer mission, so it’s a question of balancing the needs of the Border Patrol with the needs of 54 states and territories, and all the balls roll in different directions.”
The states that have signed agreements with the four border states will send tired troops, and several governors, who command the Guard when it is not on federal service, have found excuses to keep their troops at home. Governors in the Atlantic states plead flood duty, in the West forest fires, and in the South hurricane relief.
It is good to see the Washington Times report this, but will the bigger media names? The problem is that the President commanded a national audience and he got it. Every network carried his speech, but will every network carry his failure?
This just goes to show that Bush never makes plans. Instead he makes political speeches to help his party. The hell with getting the job done. Playing politics is more fun. This truly shows the enormous level of incompetence Bush suffers from.