Talk about a flip-flopper, well at least when it serves him. According to an article posted on AlterNet today, President Bush has gone back and forth on the English only issue, not surprisingly, how he leans depends on what result he’s looking for.

In September 1999, then Texas Governor George Bush told an audience during the New Hampshire presidential primary, “English-only would mean to people ‘me, not you’.”

Now that Bush is facing sliding approval ratings and criticism from fellow Republicans on his postion on immigration, he’s all about English.

As the article shows, the English only debate isn’t a new one. It’s one that pops up every few years as is the immigration issue. What is interesting is the tone the English only debate always takes. It’s very rarely English versus French or versus Chinese. It’s always pitted against Spanish just as the immigration debate is focused on one immigrant group, Mexicans. Sometimes when the race card is all you have in front of you, it needs to be played. But let’s look at how well English only programs worked in California for example:

Less than half of non-English speaking students enrolled in English immersion programs had attained proficiency in English. There was no tangible evidence that English immersion programs improved English skills of students faster or more effectively than students in bi-lingual education courses. Many parents demanded waivers to enroll their children in bi-lingual programs. By 2003, more than 100,000 students were taking bi-lingual classes.

So much for that. Too bad the adminstration has a hard time looking back in recent history. But maybe it doesn’t matter. As long as we are talking in English only everyone can forget or ignore English language words and realities like um, no se…..”war”.

Via / AlterNet