Obama: "That fence is now basically complete; They'll never be satisfied."

Well, he's nothing if not consistent. Speaking in El Paso on border security, Obama accuses opponents of playing politics (which happens to be the sole reason for his trip to Texas), labels them as unreasonable and dishonest, and lies, outright:

The speech in El Paso was largely devoid of specifics or a timeline for an immigration blueprint but more of a political call to action for reforms that have little-to-no support in conservative circles.

Of course his plan is "devoid of specifics or a timeline." All his "plans" are amorphous. It saves him a lot of time and effort and allows him to keep his hands clean.

Have some lies about the border fence:

They wanted a fence. Well, that fence is now basically complete.

So, we have gone above and beyond what was requested by the very Republicans who said they supported broader reform as long as we got serious about enforcement. But even though we’ve answered these concerns, I suspect there will be those who will try to move the goal posts one more time. They’ll say we need to triple the border patrol. Or quadruple the border patrol. They’ll say we need a higher fence to support reform.

Huh? Did someone build the fence when I wasn't looking? More on that below. But first, a taste of the brilliant Obama wit:

Maybe they’ll say we need a moat. Or alligators in the moat.

They’ll never be satisfied. And I understand that. That’s politics.

I hope you enjoyed that one; you'll be hearing it at least thirty more times as candidate Obama travels the country, cynically using amnesty as a re-election tool. I fear the "moat with alligators" is the new sippin'-on-a-Slurpy line. Sigh. I suddenly feel the urge to go have a little lie-down; it's going to be a long, long summer/fall/winter/spring/summer/fall.

Sen. Jim DeMint on that "completed" fence:

Rather than holding immigration summits at the White House with special interests and making speeches, President Obama should direct the members of his administration tasked with homeland security and patrolling the border to enact measures that have already been made law by Congress.

Five years ago, legislation was passed to build a 700-mile double-layer border fence along the southwest border. This is a promise that has not been kept.

Today, according to staff at the Department of Homeland Security, just 5 percent of the double-layer fencing is complete, only 36.3 miles.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO), Congress’s investigative arm, reported in early 2009 that only 32 miles of double-layer fencing had been built. That means under President Obama, only 4.3 miles of double layer fencing has been built. This is woefully inadequate.

While the border-fence construction lags, Mexican cartels continue to smuggle drugs, weapons, and illegal aliens into our country, attracting violent crime.

Read the rest.

Meanwhile, Texas is burning. But please, don't expect Obama to go down there and put the fires out singlehandedly -- his power's not limitless, you know.

***

Bryan Preston sums it up nicely (emphasis added):

As predicted, the president spoke in El Paso, Texas today, where he conflated legal and illegal immigration, pushed for the DREAM Act, and showed his longstanding contempt for the rule of law as regards our immigration system. President Obama knows the DREAM Act is dead in the water, as is the overall push for “comprehensive immigration reform,” which is code for amnesty. Everyone knows all this, and everyone knows the policy is going to go nowhere for the remainder of Obama’s term.

He is pushing this issue now purely for politics. He is playing Hispanic voters for suckers while the national economy melts down, the way Nero played the fiddle while Rome burned. He has played them for suckers throughout his presidency.

Another astute observation from Mr. Preston:

Perhaps the worst line in the president’s speech came when, in pushing for the DREAM Act, called for the US to “stop punishing children for the sins of their parents.” He is referring to parents who travel to the US illegally, bringing their children with them. But for the most pro-abortion president in American history to utter that line, and not realize how it boomerangs back on his own stance favoring partial birth abortion, is repugnant. This president seems to have little moral sense about him.

Yes indeed. And if I remember correctly, the babies themselves are "punishments."

***

Jake Tapper on the fence:

The president is referring to the fact that 649 miles of fencing have been completed out of 652 miles of fencing mandated by Congress. (Out of 1,969 miles of border with Mexico.) That is factually correct, according to a February 2011 study of the border by the Government Accountability Office.

But that standard ignores calls some on the border have made for the fence to be made more impenetrable. Some have called for “double-fencing”; only approximately 30 miles of fence are so reinforced, in San Diego, California and Yuma, Arizona.

More to the point, the border remains quite porous.

The Border Patrol, per the GAO study, has achieved “varying levels of operational control for 873 of the nearly 2,000 southwest border miles at the end of fiscal year 2010…GAO’s preliminary analysis of the 873 border miles under operational control in 2010 showed that about 129 miles (15 percent) were classified as ‘controlled’ and the remaining 85 percent were classified as ‘managed.’”

Even more to the point: 

The law requires two layers of new reinforced steel fencing along five segments of the 1,952-mile border, including the entire Arizona border and about 200 miles of the border in southern Texas.

***

More reactions to Obama's speech here.

Follow-up post here.

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