by Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n
NRO’s\u00a0The Corner<\/em><\/p>\n The Wages of Multiculturalism<\/strong><\/p>\n How strange that the president of Mexico, while a guest on the lawn of the White House, would attack the laws of a U.S. state, while his own country’s immigration laws and policies in relation to Central America have never approached American tolerance. It is unimaginable that an American president would ever travel to Mexico City and lecture that nation and its president on its treatment of both aliens from Latin America and American tourists. But, as President Obama reminded us, “we are not defined by our borders” \u2014 although apparently a million Mexican nationals a year disagree and so risk everything to be on the north rather than the south side of a supposedly imaginary line. That is the truth that we dare not speak.<\/p>\n We Are Getting the Message<\/strong><\/p>\n The latest about Mr. Posner and the moral equivalence between Arizona’s enforcement of federal immigration law and human-rights violations in China (even leaving\u00a0aside\u00a0the multi-million body count of its past Communist leaders) reminds us why Obama will have trouble getting back to an approval rating higher than 50 percent.<\/p>\n Let’s assume that he can more or less act presidential, keep a low profile, and avoid controversy, hoping that the people will continue to like him personally and will see him in control during mini-crises. Even so, there are so many polarizing figures in his cabinet, drawn from the extremes of the Democratic party, that at least one of them can go off on almost any given day: If not a Van Jones or an Anita Dunn, then a Michael Posner \u2014 if not praise of Chairman Mao, then throwing Arizona under the bus to the Chinese delegation.<\/p>\n Arizona was emblematic \u2014 once the new law was deemed illiberal by fiat, no one in the administration deigned to actually read the statute, but all in lockstep felt an urge to caricature it, as proof of their own progressive fides.<\/p>\n In other words, Obama has populated his administration with more presentable versions of the Bill Ayers\/Rev. Wright culture of Chicago, in which casual deprecation of the U.S. is almost\u00a0de rigueur<\/em>\u00a0and second nature \u2014 hence the surprise of these wounded fawns when others are taken aback at their casual musings. It has now been three years of “downright mean country,” “cling to guns or religion,” and “spread the wealth,” and these statements are starting to add up. We get the message \u2014 already.<\/p>\n Is Anyone Sane in Washington?<\/strong><\/p>\n Given that Greece has fallen off a cliff and much of southern Europe is on the brink, it makes no sense at all for the president to propose even more borrowing for cap-and-trade, or for further utopian proposals on the European model. Given the massive deficits incurred these last two fiscal years, we have already lost much of our diplomatic leverage overseas (as the secretary of state has noted), not to mention any moral credibility in admonishing Europe to rein in its profligate spending.<\/p>\n What is surreal is that, having been given the great didactic gift of seeing the Europeans go off the cliff ahead of us, this administration has hit the accelerator, not the brakes \u2014 almost as if it wishes to beat Europe into the abyss.<\/p>\n I can’t think of any time in recent history when an entire array of tax increases \u2014 at the state and local levels, in the income tax rates, in new healthcare charges, and in changes to payroll-tax caps to come \u2014 has not merely had no effect in reducing the deficit, but has coincided with ever more spiraling debt.<\/p>\n \u00a92010 Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The strange attitude of the administration to immigration and debt. by Victor Davis Hanson NRO’s\u00a0The Corner The Wages of Multiculturalism How strange that the president of Mexico, while a guest on the lawn of the White House, would attack the laws of a U.S. state, while his own country’s immigration laws and policies in relation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[587],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-pf","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6216,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/by-hook-crook-or-comic-book\/","url_meta":{"origin":1565,"position":0},"title":"By Hook, Crook, or Comic Book","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 18, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Mexico continues to encourage its citizens to migrate to the U.S., even thought it doesn't need to. by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/\u00a0National Review Online There are many strange elements in the current debate over illegal immigration, but none stranger than the general failure to discuss the role of\u00a0Mexico. Are millions\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Immigration"","block_context":{"text":"Immigration","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/immigration\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Border_patrol_car_patroling_on_border.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Border_patrol_car_patroling_on_border.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Border_patrol_car_patroling_on_border.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Border_patrol_car_patroling_on_border.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1406,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/illogical-immigration\/","url_meta":{"origin":1565,"position":1},"title":"Illogical Immigration","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services Some 11 million to 15 million illegal aliens are now residing in America, most after crossing into America unlawfully. Once a federal law is arbitrarily not enforced, all sorts of bizarre paradoxes arise from that original contradiction. As proof, examine the following illogical\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "August 2010"","block_context":{"text":"August 2010","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2010\/august-2010\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8577,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/what-true-immigration-reform-would-look-like\/","url_meta":{"origin":1565,"position":2},"title":"What True Immigration \u2018Reform\u2019 Would Look Like","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 30, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson\u00a0\/\/ National Review Online Can we be honest about illegal immigration? It is a common challenge to almost every advanced Western country that is adjacent to poorer nations. American employers and ethnic activists have long colluded to weaken border enforcement and render immigration law meaningless. The former\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Immigration"","block_context":{"text":"Immigration","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/immigration\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immigration reform rally in Washington, April 2013. (Alex Wong\/Getty)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/real-immigration-reform-500x292.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7648,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-moral-crisis-on-our-southern-border\/","url_meta":{"origin":1565,"position":3},"title":"The Moral Crisis on Our Southern Border","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 10, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"A perfect storm of special interests have hijacked U.S. immigration law. by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review Online No one knows just how many tens of thousands of Central American nationals \u2014 most of them desperate, unescorted children and teens \u2014 are streaming across America\u2019s southern border. Yet this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mexico"","block_context":{"text":"Mexico","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/mexico\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1589,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/our-chief-confessor\/","url_meta":{"origin":1565,"position":4},"title":"Our Chief Confessor","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 2, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services The first duty of national leaders is to worry about the self-interest of their own countries; utopian internationalism can come later. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, despite her soaring European Union rhetoric, is relearning that lesson. German voters in a recent parliamentary election rebuked\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "June 2010"","block_context":{"text":"June 2010","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2010\/june-2010\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4366,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/illiberal-aspects-of-illegal-immigration\/","url_meta":{"origin":1565,"position":5},"title":"Illiberal Aspects of Illegal Immigration","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 13, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services A group of citizens calling themselves the Minutemen patrols the border looking to stop illegal immigrants from entering the United States. Mexico's president, Vicente Fox, states that Mexican migrant workers in the U.S. are \"are doing jobs that not even blacks want to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "June 2005"","block_context":{"text":"June 2005","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2005\/june-2005\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1565"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1565"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1566,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1565\/revisions\/1566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}