Bowing Again, to Mexico this Time

Mike Gonzalez /

Presidents Calderon and Obama in the Rose Garden

Undeterred by the lack of success so far of the Obama Doctrine (apologize for America to foreign leaders, and if that doesn’t work, bow), President Obama today took the unprecedented step of publicly siding with Mexico against the state of Arizona. President Obama did this while standing next to the visiting President of Mexico, Felipe Calderon, and while addressing Mexican journalists in the Rose Garden of the White House.

President Obama repudiated Arizona’s anti-illegal immigration law in this public act, and by doing so he waved away not just centuries of tradition that domestic disputes end at the water’s edge—that we’re all American, whatever our differences may be—but also common sense and, well, national decorum. Whatever the merits and demerits of the Arizona Law, President Obama had no business agreeing with a foreign leader against the elected government of Arizona and 70% of the people in that state who support the law. (more…)