State of (Political) Emergency

The urgency that led President Bush to make a rare prime-time Oval Office address last night on the subject of immigration had absolutely nothing to do with the state of the nation's borders, which are objectively no more porous today than, say, a year ago.

But politically, Bush suddenly finds himself facing an immigration emergency.

And he also finds himself in the unusual -- and awkward -- position of trying to create a middle ground. For all his talk of being a uniter rather than a divider, Bush has historically taken intensely partisan positions on most issues.

Constructing a stable middle ground requires more skill and more political capital than a pure partisan play. But it's not clear how much of either the Bush White House can muster at this point.

Here is the text of Bush's speech.

Jim VandeHei and Jonathan Weisman write in The Washington Post: "President Bush said last night that he will dispatch 6,000 National Guard troops starting next month to help secure the porous U.S.-Mexican border, calling on a divided Congress and country to find 'a rational middle ground' on immigration that includes providing millions of illegal workers a new route to citizenship. . . .

"In conversations with lawmakers earlier in the day, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove made it clear that Bush supports, in principle, a Senate-backed plan that would provide immigrants who have lived here for five or more years a clear path to citizenship if they pay a penalty, according to participants. . . .

"But the Republican-controlled House so far has been hostile to the emerging Bush plan. Conservatives in that chamber are pushing for legislation that would tighten the borders but would not allow any route to citizenship that does not require first leaving the country."

The Analyses

Peter S. Canellos writes in the Boston Globe: "President Bush last night stood in an unfamiliar place -- the political center -- and tried to persuade people of firm, unyielding principles on both sides to embrace his multi-faceted approach to handling illegal immigration. . . .

"Both the rhetoric of persuasion and the complicated program, seeking a middle ground between opposing interests, seemed out of character for Bush, who has prided himself on being a 'decider' who stakes out a position and gives little ground to opponents."

Michael Tackett writes in the Chicago Tribune: "In recent months, President Bush seems to have been steadily losing the public on one of the sturdy pillars of his presidency: the benefit of the doubt.

"On Monday, he asked for it again on the most contentious domestic issue: immigration."