Bush Presidential Library
Last week, I read something truly hilarious. George W. Bush hopes to raise five hundred million dollars for a presidential library. He also wants to open a conservative think tank at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.
Let’s get the obvious out of the way first. The idea of a George W. Bush library is like a Martin Luther King military base or the Michael Richards-Mel Gibson School of Tolerance. The editors of Webster’s dictionary are probably amending the definition of oxymoron as you read this to include “George W. Bush library” as an example.
I’ve been trying to figure out what would be in this President’s library. Of course, Bush’s library would not be complete without a copy of Siegfried Engelmann and Elaine C. Bruner’s Reading Mastery II Storybook 1 featuring the presidentially endorsed story, “The Pet Goat.”
A friend suggested that among the presidential papers in his archives there should be coloring books, copies of Mad magazine and perhaps connect-the-dot books. (Although I doubt Bush is any good at connecting dots since he did such a lousy job of it before 9/11).
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley guides you through the President’s life with a model of the Dixon Arch from Reagan’s childhood home of Dixon, Illinois. There’s a replica of a radio booth that Reagan used in his early broadcast career, film clips, movie posters, pieces of the Berlin Wall, a recreation of the Oval Office and the actual Air Force One plane he used.
What might we expect at the Dubya library? Obviously, there’s got to be a bar. Maybe there’d be some pom poms from his cheerleading days at Philips Academy in Andover. Perhaps an old Air National Guard flightsuit from when the young Bush protected the skies of Texas from the North Vietnamese.
Will there be a virtual reality ride where you can wear a flightsuit complete with inflatable cod piece and land a plane on an aircraft carrier with a “Mission Accomplished” banner in the background?
Maybe the chains and hoods from Abu Ghraib will be on display. The stuffed body of Saddam Hussein? A shredded version of the U.S. Constitution perhaps?
And a George W. Bush think tank at a university? Come on. The jokes write themselves. Wouldn’t it be more apropos to build a frat house? Think tanks are about..well…thinking. They’re about study and analysis and wrestling with issues; everything this administration is incapable of.
According to the New York Daily News article that broke this story, Bush supporters have already identified “wealthy heiresses, Arab nations and captains of industry” as potential donors to the projects. Again, according to the article the goal is to hire conservative scholars at the Bush think tank and pay them to write flattering books about Bush policies. It’s a legacy whitewash.
The price tag is the heftiest ever for a presidential library but It’s easy to figure out where it came from. Bush asked someone, “How much will it cost to convince people that I really was a uniter not a divider?” Half a billion dollars, came the reply.
Let’s get the obvious out of the way first. The idea of a George W. Bush library is like a Martin Luther King military base or the Michael Richards-Mel Gibson School of Tolerance. The editors of Webster’s dictionary are probably amending the definition of oxymoron as you read this to include “George W. Bush library” as an example.
I’ve been trying to figure out what would be in this President’s library. Of course, Bush’s library would not be complete without a copy of Siegfried Engelmann and Elaine C. Bruner’s Reading Mastery II Storybook 1 featuring the presidentially endorsed story, “The Pet Goat.”
A friend suggested that among the presidential papers in his archives there should be coloring books, copies of Mad magazine and perhaps connect-the-dot books. (Although I doubt Bush is any good at connecting dots since he did such a lousy job of it before 9/11).
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley guides you through the President’s life with a model of the Dixon Arch from Reagan’s childhood home of Dixon, Illinois. There’s a replica of a radio booth that Reagan used in his early broadcast career, film clips, movie posters, pieces of the Berlin Wall, a recreation of the Oval Office and the actual Air Force One plane he used.
What might we expect at the Dubya library? Obviously, there’s got to be a bar. Maybe there’d be some pom poms from his cheerleading days at Philips Academy in Andover. Perhaps an old Air National Guard flightsuit from when the young Bush protected the skies of Texas from the North Vietnamese.
Will there be a virtual reality ride where you can wear a flightsuit complete with inflatable cod piece and land a plane on an aircraft carrier with a “Mission Accomplished” banner in the background?
Maybe the chains and hoods from Abu Ghraib will be on display. The stuffed body of Saddam Hussein? A shredded version of the U.S. Constitution perhaps?
And a George W. Bush think tank at a university? Come on. The jokes write themselves. Wouldn’t it be more apropos to build a frat house? Think tanks are about..well…thinking. They’re about study and analysis and wrestling with issues; everything this administration is incapable of.
According to the New York Daily News article that broke this story, Bush supporters have already identified “wealthy heiresses, Arab nations and captains of industry” as potential donors to the projects. Again, according to the article the goal is to hire conservative scholars at the Bush think tank and pay them to write flattering books about Bush policies. It’s a legacy whitewash.
The price tag is the heftiest ever for a presidential library but It’s easy to figure out where it came from. Bush asked someone, “How much will it cost to convince people that I really was a uniter not a divider?” Half a billion dollars, came the reply.
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