ok, so this piece was sent to me by someone who knew i would get a chuckle out of it
DUDE, WHERE'S YOUR LIBRARY?
Apr 27th 2006
Texan universities are vying to display George Bush's golf clubs
IN COLLEGE STATION, a quarter of a mile up Barbara Bush Drive on the
outskirts of Texas A&M University, a huge concrete edifice replete with
American flags announces the George Bush Presidential Library and
Museum. Inside, as patriotic music softly plays, starry-eyed visitors
revel in the bric-a-brac of the 41st president: his fishing rod and
Yale baseball mitt; Barbara's designer gowns; a model of the sub that
plucked Lieutenant Bush from the ocean after he was shot down in 1944;
and much else besides. There is lavish praise for everything that
George Bush senior did, and even some kindly words for his hapless
vice-president, Dan Quayle.
Presidential libraries are good at puffing up reputations, and this is
something that George Bush junior badly needs right now. A decision on
where his library will find a resting place is expected any day soon.
Texas is abuzz with speculation. Southern Methodist University (SMU) in
Dallas is seen as the front-runner. Also in with a chance are Baylor
University, in the dreary town of Waco, and the University of Dallas.
Two other Texas universities were eliminated last month.
SMU, set in an elegant, tree-lined district of Dallas, has solid White
House connections. Laura Bush, later a librarian, was Class of '68, and
she still sits on the university's board of trustees. The Bushes are
also members of a nearby church. Other eminent alumni include Harriet
Miers, the White House counsel once nominated for the Supreme Court,
and Karen Hughes, the under-secretary of state in charge of the
president's international image.
But SMU is battling a lawsuit that could be related to where the
library goes. Two condominium owners are suing the university for
trying to force residents out by declaring the condos obsolete. "The
library is coming right here," says Gary Vodicka, one of the litigants,
as he wanders around the mostly-deserted residences. A spokesman for
SMU, which has not yet disclosed exactly where it wants to put the
library, insists that the lawsuit has nothing to do with the library
proposal.
The lucky campus that eventually becomes host to Mr Bush's legacy will
be hoping for a windfall. The model is Bill Clinton's library in Little
Rock, which opened in November 2004. Despite being ridiculed for
"trailer-home chic" architecture, the library saw attendance in its
first year soar to more than 500,000--well above the projected 300,000
annual visitors. Put another way, that is nearly three times the
population of Little Rock.
Skip Rutherford, head of the Clinton Library Foundation, gives credit
to the site; the library is visible from Interstate 30, and an easy
drive from Memphis. Built in a warehouse district for $165m, it has
paid off handsomely, already bringing $1.2 billion in economic
development to the city. The Bush library may cost more. There are
reports that a bid led by Texas Tech (one of the universities to be
eliminated) promised to raise $500m for the project, though $200m-300m
seems more realistic. Mr Rutherford advises Mr Bush's would-be hosts to
"do whatever it takes to get it".
The Dallas press is gleeful at the prospect of a George W. library. In
a column last month, Steve Blow of the DALLAS MORNING NEWS reckoned
that the exhibits would include "The Frat Boy Years", "The Failed
Business Years", "The Figurehead Baseball Job", "Cool, I'm Governor!"
and "Holy Crap, I'm President!!". As for the archives--a mainstay of
every presidential library--he predicts that just about everything will
be classified.
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