It’s not uncommon to find wide disparities between the conventional wisdom among Washington elites and the reality experienced daily beyond the west bank of the Potomac River. There is, however, a Grand Canyon’s worth of difference between Washington and the rest of the country on the matter of border security with Mexico. President Obama claims the border has never been safer, that his administration has done everything demanded by Republicans, and more, to secure the border, and cites the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports data to prove his point. He even went so far in a speech earlier this week in El Paso to chide his critics, claiming they will never be satisfied, not even with a moat full of alligators.
Obama should have tuned in to C-SPAN to watch a hearing Wednesday on the issue before the Homeland Security Oversight, Investigations and Management Subcommittee chaired by Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas. Among much else, Obama would have heard the following comments:
