Posted on 11/20/2001 6:07:00 AM PST by Dubya_gal
CRAWFORD, Texas -- George W. Bush is a pretty good neighbor to the 700-plus citizens who live in this tiny central Texas village.
Last week, he brought the president of Russia to a Crawford High School assembly and gave the students an opportunity to ask questions. Any school in the country would be honored to host such a historic event.
Earlier in the year, Bush visited with the elementary school students to talk to them about the importance of reading. And he has also seen fit to deliver the commencement address at the high school graduation.
The president plainly enjoys getting to know the local folks. On the wall of every shop in town is a photograph of Bush or his wife, Laura, standing side-by-side with the business owner, smiling.
Bush's loyalty to his adopted hometown is particularly impressive because this is not an upscale community inhabited by Republican high rollers.
Instead, it is a modest little place with a few shabby buildings, many of them vacant. The streets are poorly paved. Many of the homes are very old and desperately in need of a coat of paint. The only restaurant has gas pumps out front.
Crawford was established as a railroad town in 1867. Trains still barrel through the center of town several times a day, and there is a shiny, new grain elevator near the tracks. The nearby farms no longer produce the cotton that was the cash crop a century ago.
Bush loves his ranch, which he bought for an estimated $8-million while he was governor of Texas. He no longer owns the elegant home in Dallas that he lived in before moving into the Governor's Mansion in Austin.
Few journalists have ever been invited inside the gates of the Bush ranch, and the house is not visable from the road. Local shop owners discourage out-of-town visitors from even driving out to the gate. Owners of the surrounding farms have given the Secret Service access to their property to patrol the perimeter of the Bush ranch.
According to the those who have seen it, the most beautiful aspect of the Bush ranch is a rocky gorge shaded by trees. There is a waterfall when it rains. The ranch's terrain is clearly more interesting than the flat farmland that surrounds it.
Former President Ronald Reagan always dreamed of showing the communist leaders of the Soviet Union some of the most prosperous places in the United States. He thought it would convert them to capitalism.
In fact, Reagan and his wife, Nancy, once planned to take Mikhail Gorbachev on a helicopter tour of the fanciest real estate in Southern California, so his visitor could see the mansions and swimming pools. The plan was never carried out.
Reagan, unlike Bush, grew up poor. He was very proud of the wealth he had accumulated as a Hollywood actor and successful politician.
Perhaps because Bush came from a rich family, he seems to enjoy the lack of pretension that exists among the people in this community. Whenever he comes here, he is always photographed wearing jeans, boots and an inexpensive brown jacket.
But Crawford is changing as a result of being the home of the president. New gift shops and T-shirt outlets are opening along the main street. One young fellow has established his souvenir business in the parking lot in front of an abandoned gas station, where he has hung a huge banner picturing Osama bin Laden.
Last Saturday, the town hosted a contest to select a truck with the best patriotic decoration. It was an effort by the chamber of commerce to call attention to their little community. The winner of the contest was a vehicle painted with a American flag on one side, a Texas flag on the other side and a Confederate flag on the rear.
Having Bush in the community is not likely to bring real prosperity to Crawford. But it will spawn new fast food restaurants and many more T-shirt shops. Before Bush retires to Crawford at the end of his presidency, the village will probably be a gaudy tourist trap.
It is not the type of capitalism that would easily impress a visiting foreign leader.
Even though there is a cheap shot at Crawford at the end of the article, it still gets the point across: our President knows who he is and doesn't need the glitz and glamour of the office.
I always look forward to the pictures that are released when our president visits the ranch! Great post!
So how come this reporter didn't get an invitation? Maybe because of her attitude!!
No! I miss so much by having to work, darn it! Thanks to The Daily Dose, however, I got to see pictures of it. :-)
Prairie Chapel School, Prairie Chapel Road, Crawford, Texas
I think it important to point out how really unpretentious both the President and First Lady naturally are. The architect for their home commented on Mrs. Bush asking at every juncture, "This isn't pretentious, is it?" That is how they are.
Yeah, I get sick of people portraying Bush as some sort of privileged silver spoon guy. From what I've read, I get the impression that Bush Sr. did not rely on family money, but made his own fortune, and until he did, he and Bar and the kids lived very simply. Barbara Bush speaks of their first house as costing $8,000 or something like that, and that they thought it was the cat's meow! (Before that, it sounds like they lived in apartments-- often in very humble circumstances.)
George W. seems to have had mostly a normal, middle-class childhood...going to public schools, walking to school, etc. It wasn't until he was about 13 that any stories about wealth or privilege are mentioned in connection with his life. His formative years sound like they were very normal, unpretentious, very unspoiled. Maybe I'm wrong-- maybe that's just a deliberate spin that somebody put on it to make him look more like a regular guy. But he *does* seem down to earth, and *something* made him that way!
A beauty, Valerie
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