Priorities, Poll Numbers, and PurpleThink
June 3,2006

We just love alliteration. But even more poignant than proposing punny points is presenting what passes for political progress these days.

Bush plans on making high-profile speeches next week on the following topics – gay marriage, immigration, and government spending. While PurpleThinkers pride themselves on objectively looking at the Bush record for both failures and successes, this is clearly a line-up of low-lights for the Bush presidency.

It’s clear Bush is trying to raise poll numbers and better position his party for this year’s elections. There’s no other explanation for publicizing a series of base-shoring speeches so close together. If Bush is hanging his hat on these issues, we see sound defeats for the Republicans this fall. But, more important, it speaks to priorities that are misplaced, mistimed, or both. Let’s take a closer look.

Gay Marriage. This is simply a misplaced priority. Sure, it will get the religious conservatives off their butts and voting this fall, but it does nothing to further a compelling national agenda. Gay marriage as a topic in itself can be discussed another day. However, as a constitutional amendment, it’s flat wrong. It would be the first time a constitutional amendment has ever been used to deny rights – and for what purpose? No church is forced to recognize gay marriage, and no heterosexual marriage is losing rights.

It would force states to deny survivor benefits, domestic violence protection, and a variety of other legal benefits to homosexuals who want to commit to another homosexual. Forget the moral argument for a minute, this misplaced legislative energy would handcuff states and prevent legal reform necessary to afford equal protection under the constitution. It would fundamentally change the way the 14th amendment has been interpreted since its inception. States would not be able to create “civil unions” because that would simply be another word for marriage-like rights. All draft wordings of a potential amendment we’ve seen would clearly prohibit such action.

Even if you are adamantly against gay marriage, ask yourself if this is one of the more pressing issues facing America today.

Immigration. There is only one other issue where Bush has less credibility, and it’s coming up. Since 9/11, Bush has campaigned on national security. Yet, no action had been taken on strengthening the border until pressed by the media and the House. How can you be strong on national security and yet allow tens of thousands of illegal immigrants to pass over our border each month? To make things worse, when pressed to take action, Bush’s proposal would make it even more appealing to enter the U.S. illegally. Bush’s proposal for a comprehensive immigration bill is ridiculous because it refuses to accept that the border must be secured before any amnesty-esque legislation is considered. PurpleThinkers know you can’t deport 15 million people, but we also can’t invite another 15 million. We wrote at length about this here.

Government Spending. Are you kidding me? Bush is on target to be the first president in over 100 years not to veto a single piece of legislation. Pork is kosher these days. Spending on congressional pet-projects is more than it has ever been. As if this weren’t bad enough, Bush will go down in history as the biggest welfare spender since FDR with his prescription drug benefit. Finally, sprinkle in a little war on terror, let simmer, and serve cold.

We PurpleThinkers will listen to the speeches this next week. Perhaps we’ll peer upon some political prowess that will promote pride in our president. Perhaps.

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