I sometimes refer to Barry as "the Least Serious President in the History of the Republic™". While Obama's shameful speech on immigration reform is still fresh in our minds, let's see how many "Pinocchios"* he'd be awarded for this speech.
They wanted a fence. Well, that fence is now basically complete.
According to John Lott,
Just 36.3 miles of the promised 700-mile double-layered fence along the 1951-mile southwest border has been completed. Remember that there were a lot of people concerned that the fence was only going to be 700 miles long to begin with.
So, roughly five percent of the promised fence, which some argued was unreasonably small to begin with. But, it gets worse (for the President's credibility):
The Government Accountability Office (GAO), Congress's investigative arm, reported in early 2009 that only 32 miles of double-layer fencing had been built. That means under President Obama, only 4.3 miles of double layer fencing has been built. This is woefully inadequate.
Obama is famous for taking credit for things he had little to no participation in. Obama votes "present" here as well. He takes credit for a "basically completed" fence, when in truth, the Barack Obama memorial fence is only 4.3 miles long.
So, we have gone above and beyond what was requested by the very Republicans who said they supported broader reform as long as we got serious about enforcement. But even though we’ve answered these concerns, I suspect there will be those who will try to move the goal posts one more time. They’ll say we need to triple the border patrol. Or quadruple the border patrol. They’ll say we need a higher fence to support reform.
Let's see what your own GAO (Government Accountability Office) has to say about your "above and beyond what was requested".
Border Patrol reported achieving varying levels of operational control for 873 of the nearly 2,000 southwest border miles at the end of fiscal year 2010
"Varying levels of operational control" for "873 of the nearly 2,000 southwest border miles". What does that mean? For starters, they're talking about "operational control" for only about 43% of our southern border. (The Barack Obama memorial fence is less than half a percent of that, and two tenths of one percent of the border. Sleep well tonight, America!)
And, by the GAO's definition, what does "operational control" mean?
Border Patrol reported that its levels of operational control for most border miles reflected its ability to respond to illegal activity after entry into the United States and not at the immediate border. Operational control encompassed two of the five levels used to classify the security level of each border mile. The two levels of control differed in the extent that Border Patrol resources were available to either deter or detect and apprehend illegal entries at the immediate border (controlled) versus a multi-tiered deployment of Border Patrol resources to deter, detect, and apprehend illegal entries after entry into the United States; sometimes 100 miles or more away (managed). GAO's preliminary analysis of the 873 border miles under operational control in 2010 showed that about 129 miles (15 percent) were classified as "controlled" and the remaining 85 percent were classified as "managed."
So, 15% of the 43% is controlled, the rest is "managed". That 15% works out to around 6.45% of the total. Hear that, America? A little over 6% of your southern border is controlled and Obama considers that "going above and beyond" what was requested to secure our borders. Obama should buy some lottery tickets. The lottery has been referred to as a tax on the math impaired!
Six percent of the border is "controlled" and Obama mocks his critics as wanting to build a "higher fence", (technically, any fence at all is higher than "no fence") to build a moat and fill it with alligators? And just how effective is that control, according to the GAO?
Border Patrol stated that operational control does not require its agents to be able to detect and apprehend all illegal entries.
So, long story short, 43% of the proposed fence on the southern border has a fence of any kind, much less the kind of fence that was promised, and Barack the Bold contributed 4.3 miles to that fence. Less than six and a half percent of the border is considered "controlled" by Border Patrol and the GAO, and even the six percent under "control" does not stop ALL activity.
"Porous borders" anyone? "Above and beyond"? Is it "moving the goal posts" to suggest that the entire border needs to be at least "controlled"? Is an additional two tenths of one percent of fencing sufficient for Obama to crow "Mission Accomplished" at the border and turn his attention back to his golf game?
Obama lied about the fence, and by implication, he lied about his participation in its "completion". He lied about moving the goal posts, and with his mocking, less than serious tone, he lied about the need to further secure our southern border.
I'd give the speech four out of five Pinocchios, even though, his lips were moving during the entire speech.
* Pinocchio: Famous for his nose growing whenever he lied.
And because I've thrown a lot of numbers at you, please note: A 36.3 mile fence works out to 1.8% of a 2,000 mile southern border.
Cross posted at LCR, Say Anything.
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