Baby, I'm A Star: Marco Rubio's Push For Immigration Reform

Hard to believe just a few months ago that Marco Rubio was the Tea Party's "New Reagan" (like the Boss used to be the "New Dylan," I guess). Now he's working with the despicable likes of Chuck Schumer and Dick Durban to pass left-wing legislation, making major policy pronouncements in Spanish, and creating an atmosphere where his aides feel comfortable dumping on American workers:

“There are American workers who, for lack of a better term, can’t cut it. There shouldn’t be a presumption that every American worker is a star performer. There are people who just can’t get it, can’t do it, don’t want to do it. And so you can’t obviously discuss that publicly.”

That crack might make some sense - not everyone can be Steve Jobs, after all - if the Schumer-Rubio bill sought to address this alleged shortfall in "star performers," but it doesn't. Instead, the emphasis is on the mass migration of low-skill, low-wage, low-education laborers, and their extended families. Maybe there's a Mexican Sergey Brin mixed in among these huddled masses, but I doubt it. Mexico's idea of a "star performer" is Carlos Slim. With the exception of an increased number of tech viasas, there is nothing in the bill that would encourage the sort of high-skilled, well educated entrepreneurial people to emigrate to the United States. Instead, we will continue the depressing, dysfunctional status quo: millions of marginal types either entering illegally or staying after their tourist visa expires get all the political attention, while immigrants educated up to the Phd level languish on waiting lists or give up and go home. 

This "star performer" stuff is a crock anyway. Since when are Americans expected to be "stars?" The expectation is that you work hard and are productive. That's all you can expect from the mass of humanity. And who are the star performers among the current population of illegals? Is there a star performer in the lettuce patch looking to pivot to avocados? 

As bad as this is, Rubio's apparent tendency to say "security first!" in English, while promising "legalization first!" in Spanish is worse. It's the old Arafat trick of saying something moderate to an English-speaking audience while saying the opposite in another language. It's the perfect tool of the demagogue, and something even Obama has not dared to do. I know, I know. George Bush used to speak Spanish to crowds too. (Bush did it! is a bi-partisan "get out of jail" card), but there is a vast difference between throwing in a sentence or two of Spanish lingo, and actually making political promises in Spanish to a Spanish-speaking audience. 

Our only hope, I guess, is that it's the Spanish speakers who are being lied to by the cynical border-firsters in the Gang of 8 (hah!), but we all know what's really going on. Rubio is the front for an obfuscatory effort to pass dubious legislation that won't even accomplish its stated goals. 

It could be that Rubio knows something the rest of us don't know about the electorate a la Obama circa 2007, and this effort will strengthen his aspirations while giving us a chance to rationalize our immigration system, but, after seeing Rubio's performance over the last few weeks I kind of doubt it.