By Joe Guzzardi
10/06/2006
"I told you so." How we at VDARE.COM love to say those words! And, the White House, U.S. Congress, the Mexican government and the MSM graciously provide us with a treasure trove of opportunities to gloat.
This time I’m referring to a column I wrote nine months ago titled " In the Looming Public Relations Battle For Americans' Hearts And Minds, Mexico Will Lose".
You recall the flap in late 2005 when Mexico hired the Texas-based Allyn & Company public relations firm to clarify the U.S. "misperception" of Mexico.
At the time, Allyn charged $720,000 to undertake this completely impossible and utterly thankless task.
Why look a gift horse in the mouth, I’m sure company President Rob Allyn asked himself.
The message Mexico wanted to convey, as translated by Allyn into public relations-speak, is that more immigration, more guest workers and the proverbial path to citizenship, would clear up our "misperceptions."
Since the likelihood of Allyn’s success in selling his agenda to an increasingly skeptical American public hovered somewhere around zero, I suggested to Allyn in my column that he insist on his money from Mexico upfront.
If Allyn didn’t get paid a few months ago, he may have trouble collecting now since his efforts — whatever they may have been — have crashed head-on into a stone wall.
What Mexico and Allyn are trying to sell — its multiple fantasies that the U.S. economy would "collapse" without foreign workers, that aliens are just doing "jobs Americans won’t do," and that Mexicans are "just looking for a better life" — Americans are no longer buying.
The first clue that things weren’t going so well for Allyn’s grand scheme came in May when President George W. Bush took to the airwaves to make a prime-time television address pleading for "comprehensive immigration reform."
Bush’s speech was so poorly received by Americans in general and House Republicans in particular that in a parliamentary government, a motion of "no confidence" would have been called for.
Then things got worse.
By July, the nation’s mood had slipped further away from Mexico and Allyn’s grasp.
In mid-summer, Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert summarized America’s illegal immigration crisis this way:
"Every state is a border state, and every town is a border town. I've just returned from a very informative trip to the southern border, but everywhere I travel around this country, illegal immigration is a top concern. It’s a top concern among Americans because they want our southern and northern borders to be secure.
"Border security is an issue of national security. It is not a secret that terrorists and drug runners -who want to do us harm- are trying to find ways into our country and I believe we must first do everything we can to stop them.
"Before we can look at other immigration issues, we must first secure our borders. I am disappointed that the Democrats support a plan (S. 2611) for open borders and a plan for amnesty. Their plan is just plain unacceptable."
A summer-long series of nineteen hearings held by 8 House committees in twelve states followed. The goal, said Hastert, "…is to get a stronger border security bill to the President’s desk."
Come September, the House passed H.R. 6061, the "Secure Fence Act of 2006." And on September 29, the Senate passed the legislation that would permit a 700-mile fence to be built along a portion of the Mexico/U.S. border.
H.R. 6061 now goes to Bush’s desk where he has promised to sign it.
In the meantime, finally showing a hint of resolve, Bush rebuffed the predictable protests of the Mexican government’s hierarchy consisting of President Vicente Fox, President-elect Felipe Calderon and Foreign Secretary Ernesto Derbez who absurdly charge that the fence will "damage bilateral relationships" — one of their favorite nebulous claims. [Mexico To Lobby Bush Against Fence Bill, by E. Edward Castillo, The Guardian, September 29, 2006]
In summary, since Allyn & Company took Mexico’s money (under false pretenses?) to improve its image, it has suffered the following setbacks:
Does the fine print on the Mexico/Allyn and Company contract contain a non-performance clause?
Is it possible to be less effective than Allyn & Company has been?
In the private sector, a failure of such magnitude would result in a serious ass chewing…one that we at VDARE.COM would love to deliver.
Since that isn’t possible, we'll be content with having called it like we see it…correctly, as usual.
Joe Guzzardi is the Editor of VDARE.COM Letters to the Editor. In addition, he is an English teacher at the Lodi Adult School and has been writing a weekly newspaper column since 1988. This column is exclusive to VDARE.COM.
This is a content archive of VDARE.com, which Letitia James forced off of the Internet using lawfare.
