[kj] ot - bush library?! funny

[fluw]

Steve Blow:
Bush library - it's not exactly academic


          09:40 AM CST on Sunday, March 26, 2006

**
Heaven help me, with all the talk about the George W. Bush Presidential 
Library, a question keeps coming to mind:
 
What's it going to have? Coloring books?
 
Now, don't get all defensive on me. We can tease because he's one of us, 
right?
And you have to admit: There's something ironic about building a library 
for a guy who has never been in one.
 
Oh, maybe not "never." He did marry a librarian. There may have been 
some "research" in the stacks back in the day.
 
But no matter how you feel about the president, I think we can all agree 
that "academic" is not the first word that springs to mind.
 
In fact, it's one of the things his admirers like best about him.
 
As presidents go, he really is an ordinary Joe. And let's face it, 
ordinary Joes - and Georges - don't spend a lot of time hanging around 
libraries.
 
Even the first lady has joked about it. At last year's White House 
correspondents' dinner, Laura Bush said their marriage must have been 
meant to be.
 
"I was the librarian who spent 12 hours a day in the library," she said. 
Pause, pause. "Yet somehow I met George."
 
Go ahead, add the rim shot.
 
Yet here in Dallas and down in Waco, folks are falling all over 
themselves to build a fancy-schmancy library for a guy who clearly would 
much rather be out chopping cedar.
 
In Texas.
 
In August.
 
And thank goodness he didn't meet a wife that way.
 
Officials at the three finalist universities are nervous Nellies right 
now - afraid to say squat for fear of offending someone on the 
presidential team. So what little they do say is all sweetness and light.
 
But you have to wonder if there isn't some nervousness about building a 
grand temple for a fellow whose legacy is so uncertain at the moment.
 
Could this highly sought prize end up as a national joke? The Millard 
Fillmore of presidential libraries?
 
Already there are a few jokes. Jay Leno expressed astonishment at 
reports that the Bush library will cost $300 million. He gasped, "That's 
about $150 million per book!"
 
I didn't say they were good jokes.
 
But I come back to my original question: Exactly what is going to be in 
this library? What's going to make it the big tourist draw everyone 
seems to expect?
 
As my colleague Colleen McCain Nelson reported in a front-page story 
Friday, most of the other presidential libraries have seen declining 
interest and attendance.
So what's going to make the GWB version any different?
 
Let's be honest. He doesn't have the greatest personal story to tell - 
no log cabin beginnings, no impossible odds to overcome.
 
I can see the exhibits now - "The Frat Boy Years," "The Failed Business 
Years," "The Figurehead Baseball Job," "Cool, I'm Governor!," "Holy 
Crap, I'm President!!"
 
So, no, personal history probably won't be the big draw. But perhaps the 
museum could highlight some of Mr. Bush's soaring oratory:
."Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream."
."Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never 
stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and 
neither do we."
."Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?"
 
Hmm. Maybe we had better keep thinking.
 
Of course, these museums aren't just for tourists. They are also 
official archives, where serious presidential scholars will do their 
research.
 
But with the Bush administration's penchant for secrecy, the archives 
might be a challenge:
 
"Met with */CLASSIFIED /*to discuss */CLASSIFIED/* . Heckuva 
*/CLASSIFIED/*."
 
You know, it dawns on me that I don't need to fret about creating this 
library. I'm sure the Bush folks have a perfectly good plan:
Outsource it to Halliburton.
 
E-mail *sblow at dallasnews.com* <mailto:sblow at dallasnews.com>
 
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/localnews/columnists/all/stories/DN-blow_26met.ART0.North.Edition2.3e6ba44.html

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