Remembering history the way they wished it had been
Some assembly required
The long awaited announcement of a deal to bring the George W. Bush Presidential Library to Southern Methodist University remains…awaited.
The Dallas Morning News rounds up the current state of play – Bush still loves SMU the best, some faculty and Methodist Church grumbling, and a prolonged lawsuit by former condo owners over the land SMU is expected to build the Library on.
Easy, rider
A souvenir of George W. Bush’s “Que es muy macho?” 2004 reelection campaign has surfaced at the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum & Hall of Fame in South Dakota.
The bike was built for Bush and ridden only once, by him, indoors. This storied history will now be commemorated at the Museum, and someday, the bike’s builders hope, in the Bush Library. It’s quite the swanky ride, with the Constitution’s Preamble on the gas tank where they usually put the wizard. 
Bush’s bike will be in interesting company. The Sturgis Museum features a “Freedom Fighters Hall of Fame,” the proud rolls leading off with Ralph “Sonny” Barger of Arizona. That would be the beloved Hells Angels leader, no longer serving time for conspiring to blow up a rival motorcycle gang’s headquarters. Sturgis is the site of a legendary annual motorcycle rally, not known to be “family friendly.”
The Bush White House dragged his biker “image” out of the closet again in 2006, sending Bush to the Pennsylvania Harley-Davidson plant. 
It didn’t work in Pennsylvania at least. The Democrats picked up the Senate and four House seats.
Happier days at first
Indiana officials constructing the Ronald Reagan Parkway have run into trouble. Or out of money.
The Indianapolis Star reports the highway [one of um, several] has been in development almost two decades, but local governments haven’t yet figured out how to pay for it. But in the spirit of Star Wars [sorry, SDI], they have gone ahead anyway.
One unpopular option being considered would be tax increment financing [TIF], a classic Reagan era dodge. TIFs claim a territory and capture all growth in property tax revenue that come out of it. The theory is that the object at the center of the TIF has sparked all local magic and should rake off the proceeds. But this beggars other local taxing bodies, like the school district who objects to the proposed Reagan one.
After You!
In Newsweek Michael Isikoff has some new information on access to the Clinton White House papers, but wanders off into myth and misinformation on how the law, the Clintons and the Bushs came to this point.
The one thing Isikoff has is Archives documents showing that Clinton’s wishes on withholding documents are, shall we say, thorough.
No doubt the Clinton’s are interested in controlling their image and access to their papers, but this article’s brush with the state of the law on public access doesn’t help explain much.
Unlike what Isikoff says, the 1978 Presidential Records Act favored release and disclosure. The prolonged and extensive review by ex and current Presidents and their effective veto power on release is the creation of George W. Bush. Isikoff does say that Bush is under challenge in Federal Court in a convoluted wording, but his piece understates what a departure from existing law Bush made.
The Clintons are not a unique case, they are just the most recent battle over access to the record. And their interests allign with the Bush’s more than either party will acknowledge.
Isikoff’s mistaken summary of the state of law is at the bottom of his story:
“(Under the 1978 Presidential Records Act, the former president and the current president get to review White House records before they are disclosed. Either one can veto a release.) Ben Yarrow, a spokesman for Bill Clinton, says the former president was referring “in general” to a controversial 2001 Bush executive order—recently overturned, in part, by a federal judge—that authorized more extensive layers of review from both current and former presidents before papers are released. (Hillary’s campaign didn’t respond to requests for comment.)”
Vicente Fox’s “I’m not your father’s ex-Mexican President” campaign has suffered new blows as a statue of the former Coca Cola cowboy was torn down in Veracruz hours after it was installed.
The book tour, the memorializing, the looming Presidential Library opening, all fly in the face of the fact that his National Action Party has always been a minority taste, his own Presidential victory not withstanding.
