W library in record book ($500M center would be priciest for a Prez)

WASHINGTON - He may be a certified lame duck now, but President Bush and his truest believers are about to launch their final campaign - an eye-popping, half-billion-dollar drive for the Bush presidential library. Eager to begin refurbishing his tattered legacy, the President hopes to raise $500 million to build his library and a think tank at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Bush lived in Dallas until he was elected governor of Texas in 1995.

Bush sources with direct knowledge of library plans told the Daily News that SMU and Bush fund-raisers hope to get half of the half billion from what they call "megadonations" of $10 million to $20 million a pop.

Bush loyalists have already identified wealthy heiresses, Arab nations and captains of industry as potential "mega" donors and are pressing for a formal site announcement - now expected early in the new year.

"You can't ask people in Dallas for $20 million until they can be sure the library won't be in Waco," one Bush source noted.

The rest of the cash will come from donors willing to pony up $25,000 to $5 million.

"It's a stretch," said another source briefed on the plans. "It's so much bigger than anything that's been tried before. But the more you have, the more influence [on history] you can exert."

The half-billion target is double what Bush raised for his 2004 reelection and dwarfs the funding of other presidential libraries. But Bush partisans are determined to have a massive pile of endowment cash to spread the gospel of a presidency that for now gets poor marks from many scholars and a majority of Americans.

The legacy-polishing centerpiece is an institute, which several Bush insiders called the Institute for Democracy. Patterned after Stanford University's Hoover Institution, Bush's institute will hire conservative scholars and "give them money to write papers and books favorable to the President's policies," one Bush insider said.

Presidential libraries are run by the National Archives and Records Administration, but building costs must come from private donations. Bells and whistles, like an institute or an academic program like Bush's father's public service school at Texas A&M, are also extras.

The News reported in March 2005 that the library will be at SMU, where First Lady Laura Bush is an alumna and sits on the board of trustees. But a formal announcement has been delayed by a legal dispute over some of the land where the library complex will be built.

It remains to be seen whether Bush's low standing in the polls and his rejection by voters in the midterm elections will make it harder to raise funds. That was true for former President Jimmy Carter, who struggled to fund his library center after being defeated by Ronald Reagan in 1980.

But planners believe hometown and Texas pride will outweigh any drag from Bush's diminished political fortunes. "The money will be there," a senior Bush adviser said. "The President is very popular in Dallas and the library will be great for the city and SMU."

There's another major inducement for potential donors: Their names aren't required to be made public.

This article is a hit job.
But even so, the Bush Library won't be able to hire Thomas Sowell away from Hoover. Bush's legacy will stand or fall on his actual record, for good and for ill.

WOT
Iraq war.
"No child left behind."
McCain-Feingold signing.
Tax cuts.
Prescription drug benefit.
Mostly, that will be it.

"Riiiigt. And you actually think that a soft and pampered people would put up with "utmost respect for our limited mineral resources." LOL, what color is the sky in your world? Half this country isn't even aware there is a war. Most of this country was totally unaware of what Clinton did to our military. This war can't be fought like WWI or WWII, the days of Dresden, Hirosima are GONE. There is no way the US will EVER be able to fight a war like that again because our own people won't allow it. "

Nearly all the country knows there is a war. Just weeks ago voters cited the war as the most pressing issue. What they are not aware of is the full extent of the war being waged against our nation and the non-Muslim world.

It must be nice to think the days of Dresden and Hiroshima are forever gone. Then we would have no reason to be concerned with the nuclear ambitions of Iran. There is no way our own people will have a choice as to fighting another war like WWII. It will be delivered to us whether we want it or not. The only question is if the war will be fought while we have military superiority, or if we wait until our enemies can fight us on a more equal basis.

And the reason the WOT is not presently being fought at a scale similar to WWII is because President Bush, not our people, minimized the war in the days immediately following the 9-11 attacks. The American people were ready for total war the morning of 9-11 and for days following. Their rage was nearly universal. They merely awaited the call to arms. Instead they were treated to a presidential mocking for a "religion of peace", followed by instructions to go shopping.

It may be that the presidential legacy of GW Bush will be written on what he failed to do, more than what he did do. Already he is running a close second to former President Clinton for not capturing or killing Osama bin Laden.

BTW, in response to your earlier post. It was not the terrain of the Hindu Kush mountains that thwarted our military in pursuit of our enemies. Our military is vastly superior to what the Soviets delivered in Afghanistan. Our military followed the orders or their Commander-in-Cheif, President GW Bush, to not pursue the enemy into Pakistan. This despite his promise to our people to hunt down the people responsible for the 9-11 attacks, WHEREVER THEY MIGHT HIDE! Don't even try to hang the responsibility for this failure on our troops, our people, or the terrain.

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