A photo op is not what is needed

It isn't so often that I find myself disagreeing with Joan Walsh of Salon.com, but this is one of those times.

Walsh wrote a column on Wednesday in which she agreed with all those politicians who are castigating the president because he did not plan to make a visit to the border while he is in Texas to see the thousands of immigrants detained there. Her argument was that such a visit would illustrate the complexity of the humanitarian and immigration crisis like nothing else. She's wrong.

We don't need the president in a photo op with desperate children to illustrate the complexity of the problem. All that would do would be to provide a media circus for the 24-hour news cycle. It would not get any closer to solving the problem.

The complexity of the problem is self-evident. It is a product of chaotic conditions in Central American countries, conditions in which the United States with its appetite for cocaine from the region is clearly complicit. And then, of course, there is the fact that this country actively contributed during the Reagan years to the destabilization of the region. So, we do bear some responsibility here. Even acknowledging that, however, really gets us no further along. We need to solve the immediate crisis and then we need to institute a humane and reasonable immigration policy.

The immediate problem is a need for decent, sanitary housing for these children and women - and they are mostly children and women - and sufficient adjudicators to hear their cases in a timely manner to determine whether they qualify for refugee status or they need to be returned to their countries of origin. And if they should be returned to their own countries, then we need a swift process for accomplishing that.

All of that, of course, requires money, and the only way that money can be provided is for Congress to appropriate it. But, frankly, Congress would rather yell at the president than get off its collective ass to do its job and help solve the problem.

Meanwhile, President Obama gets it from both sides. From advocates for immigrants, he gets criticism because he has deported more people than any president in history. (Not a fact that viewers of Fox News know, of course.) He has also increased numbers of Border Patrol agents to the highest level ever. Whenever I hear people complaining about the border not being secure, I wonder what border are they talking about? Anyone who has actually been to the border between Mexico and Texas in recent years, as I have, knows that it has more police per square foot than just about any place on the planet. If you are driving or walking anywhere near the border, you can't go ten minutes without encountering a Border Patrol agent. Still, all the right wingnuts scream about our "porous border" and a president who won't enforce the immigration laws. They don't know what they are talking about. They don't want to know.

So, the president is criticized from both the right and the left on this issue. One thing is clear. If he visited the border for a photo op, that would not stop the criticism. More importantly, it would not solve the problem. For that the president needs the cooperation of Congress. Unfortunately for us and for those desperate people waiting at our borders, I don't think he will get it.

Poetry Sunday: Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver

How about we share another Mary Oliver poem? After all, you can never have too many of those. In this one, the poet seems to acknowledge that it is often hard to simply live in and enjoy the moment, perhaps because we are afraid it can't last. She urges us to give in to that moment and fully experience the joy. Although "much can never be redeemed, still, life has some possibility left." Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is no...

Poetry Sunday: Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney

My mother was a farm wife and a prodigious canner. She canned fruit and vegetables from the garden, even occasionally meat. But the best thing that she canned, in my opinion, was blackberry jam. Even as I type those words my mouth waters! Of course, before she could make that jam, somebody had to pick the blackberries. And that somebody was quite often named Dorothy. I think Seamus Heaney might have spent some time among the briars plucking those delicious black fruits as well, so he would have known that "Once off the bush the fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour." They don't keep; you have to get that jam made in a hurry! Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust ...

Poetry Sunday: Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman

You probably remember poet Amanda Gorman from her appearance at the inauguration of President Biden. She read her poem "The Hill We Climb" on that occasion. After the senseless slaughter in Uvalde this week, she was inspired to write another poem which was published in The New York Times. It seemed perfect for the occasion and so I stole it in order to feature it here, just in case you didn't get a chance to read it in the Times . Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman Everything hurts, Our hearts shadowed and strange, Minds made muddied and mute. We carry tragedy, terrifying and true. And yet none of it is new; We knew it as home, As horror, As heritage. Even our children Cannot be children, Cannot be. Everything hurts. It’s a hard time to be alive, And even harder to stay that way. We’re burdened to live out these days, While at the same time, blessed to outlive them. This alarm is how we know We must be altered — That we must differ or die, That we must triumph or try. ...

The Nature of Things

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