By Tom Prezelski
Reposted from Rum, Romanism and Rebellion
Yesterdays news is that Former Governor Janet Napolitano will be resigning as Secretary of Homeland Security to accept a a position as President of the University of California System.
I had a friendly working relationship with Janet when I was in the legislature, so it would naturally follow that I have mixed feelings about her tenure in Homeland Security. On the one hand, she made some important steps to clean up an unmanageable mess of an organization. On the other, it does not seem like enough. In her defense, however, the gnashing of teeth and rending of garments that occurred every time she made a modest move toward reasonableness was a reminder of what she was up against. Even her order to the Border Patrol to exercise a modicum of common sense and discretion by focusing their efforts on nabbing traficantes rather than chasing desperate campesinos met with resistance from rank and file agents and demagogues in Congress, and there was scant little vocal public support for such restraint to balance out the vitriol.
Folks on the left rightfully point out that the Secretary presided over a continuing, perhaps even accelerated, militarization of the border, and that an unprecedented number of immigrants have been deported on her watch. Of course, this tends to point out the futility of the current emphasis on enforcement, not simply the practical futility, as no border issue has yet been resolved to anyone’s satisfaction, but also the political futility. In example, here are the boilerplate comments about Napolitano’s announcement from Congressman Paul Gosar (R-Meth Alley):
While Secretary Napolitano may be gone she will not be forgotten. Her inaction and incompetence on border security will continue to plague our nation for years to come.
Keep in mind that Gosar is calling a record number of deportations and uniformed men with guns on the border, even as illicit traffic is in decline, “inaction.” Clearly, there is no pleasing this guy. No amount of enforcement will be enough for immigration opponents, so why even bother indulging them?
But what this really points to is that we could do much worse, and in fact, there is a good chance that we will. Inexplicably, some otherwise responsible people are already calling for the President to appoint vaguely fascist New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, whose justifications of racial profiling are reminiscent of comments from Sheriff Arpaio and former State Senator Russell Pearce. None of this bodes well for the admittedly modest progress that we have made toward a sane border policy.
All things being said, Janet did a credible job in the DHS, and considering the size of the task and the current political environment, this may be all we could ask for. Running the UC system could almost be considered a step up, and will doubtless be a lot more fun for her.
(NB: Someone will probably notice that the photo is of former Concrete Blonde lead singer Johnette Napolitano, in keeping with a running joke on Rum Romanism and Rebellion. She will be playing a free show on the patio at the Hotel Congress in Tucson tonight as a part of Second Saturdays Downtown. You should go.)
Gosar can bite the big one. He is a tea party rear kissing grandstander only marginally less loathsome than Trent Franks.
Posted by: Christopher Memminger | July 13, 2013 at 05:53 PM