Posted on 11/27/2006 2:23:56 AM PST by RWR8189
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.
| Real Spending | Percent Increases | ||||||
| Department | 1993 | 1997 | 2001 | 2005 | Clinton I | Clinton II | Bush I |
| Department of Agriculture | 17,011 | 16,154 | 17,206 | 18,711 | -5.0% | 6.5% | 8.8% |
| Department of Commerce | 3,412 | 4,206 | 4,964 | 5,419 | 23.3% | 18.0% | 9.2% |
| Department of Education | 27,191 | 25,569 | 34,983 | 50,623 | -6.0% | 36.8% | 44.7% |
| Department of Energy | 21,195 | 18,144 | 18,018 | 21,582 | -14.4% | -0.7% | 19.8% |
| Department of Health and Human Services | 32,637 | 34,801 | 45,824 | 61,383 | 6.6% | 31.7% | 34.0% |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | 27,780 | 32,720 | 32,205 | 36,775 | 17.8% | -1.6% | 14.2% |
| Department of Justice | 9,974 | 13,253 | 17,264 | 17,274 | 32.9% | 30.3% | 0.1% |
| Department of Labor | 11,180 | 10,419 | 10,169 | 10,290 | -6.8% | -2.4% | 1.2% |
| Department of State | 7,192 | 5,952 | 6,747 | 9,431 | -17.2% | 13.3% | 39.8% |
| Department of Transportation | 34,922 | 36,389 | 44,563 | 52,126 | 4.2% | 22.5% | 17.0% |
| Environmental Protection Agency | 7,191 | 6,895 | 7,411 | 7,577 | -4.1% | 7.5% | 2.2% |
| Department of the Interior | 8,349 | 7,584 | 8,759 | 9,984 | -9.2% | 15.5% | 14.0% |
| Department of Homeland Security | 10,908 | 11,423 | 14,841 | 27,802 | 4.7% | 29.9% | 87.3% |
Comments:
Table 2: Real Discretionary Budget Authority by Agency (millions)
| Percent Increases | |||||||
| Department | 1993 | 1997 | 2001 | 2005 | Clinton I | Clinton II | Bush I |
| Department of Agriculture | 18,245 | 16,529 | 18,763 | 17,158 | -9.4% | 13.5% | -8.6% |
| Department of Commerce | 3,790 | 4,059 | 4,971 | 5,147 | 7.1% | 22.5% | 3.5% |
| Department of Education | 28,065 | 28,298 | 39,115 | 51,628 | 0.8% | 38.2% | 32.0% |
| Department of Energy | 22,653 | 17,551 | 19,537 | 21,223 | -22.5% | 11.3% | 8.6% |
| Department of Health and Human Services | 35,455 | 36,543 | 52,818 | 61,369 | 3.1% | 44.5% | 16.2% |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | 28,438 | 15,980 | 27,659 | 28,150 | -43.8% | 73.1% | 1.8% |
| Department of Justice | 10,208 | 15,723 | 17,947 | 16,881 | 54.0% | 14.1% | -5.9% |
| Department of Labor | 11,712 | 10,889 | 11,664 | 10,697 | -7.0% | 7.1% | -8.3% |
| Department of State | 7,288 | 5,875 | 7,583 | 9,237 | -19.4% | 29.1% | 21.8% |
| Department of Transportation | 12,272 | 11,007 | 14,320 | 12,019 | -10.3% | 30.1% | -16.1% |
| Environmental Protection Agency | 8,146 | 7,224 | 7,642 | 6,986 | -11.3% | 5.8% | -8.6% |
| Department of the Interior | 8,292 | 7,784 | 10,015 | 9,768 | -6.1% | 28.7% | -2.5% |
| Department of Homeland Security | 10,601 | 14,203 | 15,653 | 25,495 | 34.0% | 10.2% | 62.9% |
Technically Bush cut spending in five departments based on authority. But. Actual spending was up in all 13. So. Bush's legacy about spending is "Aw, just let them do it."
Actually Bush's legacy will be this:
(From Bush's press conference after the Nov. 11th elections.) "And so he and I both agreed in our meeting yesterday that it was appropriate that I accept his resignation. And so the decision was made -- actually, I thought we were going to do fine yesterday. Shows what I know. But I thought we were going to be fine in the election. My point to you is, is that, win or lose, Bob Gates was going to become the nominee."
"Shows what I know".
Sounds about right for the Bush legacy.
Yeah, and.......? What part of CONGRESS HOLDS THE PURSE STRINGS don't you get? Funny, the rest of America understood that concept, that's why they voted the bums out.
Relax, in a couple months it'll be safe to blame Pelosi.
You dont recall? dont make me laugh...
YEAH and what part of Bush never demanded budget cuts don't you get?
When, in Bush's last six years did he mount a campaign to cut the budget?
Better yet--don't build it with anybody's money, and close all the rest of the damned "library pyramids". "Presidential Library" my a**.
Big whoo!
W's library would be the priciest...until the library for the 44th president is built.
It appears you think you live in a monarchy instead of a republic. The days of kings in the US went away a long time ago.
What on earth is that supposed to mean? Does Congress have the only say in the budget? Is the president merely a eunuch when it comes to fiscal policy? Bush is no king but he's supposed to set the budget. He makes the budget requests and congress either funds it or doesn't.
Maybe you need a remedial course in the Constitution.
Tattered legacy???? Where does somebody get this?
Nobody liked Lincoln in his lifetime either. Nobody.
I'd like to see the bulk of the W library be online.
But do you know where it should be? Not in Texas. In NYC.
Why NY?
Repair his tattered legacy....did you hear that ONCE when Clinton's library was being built?
The statue of him with the megaphone would have much less impact at SMU.
Not quite. You flunked math today.
So, when Congress attaches unnecessary spending to very necessary spending in support of the war, you favor cutting off funds to support the troops in harms' way, and forcing the President to take all of the heat for it.
You've got the decimals in the wrong place. He's trying to raise $500 not $500 billion. That amount would reduce the from $10 trillion to $9.9995 trillion.
You've got the decimals in the wrong place. He's trying to raise $500 not $500 billion. That amount would reduce the debt from $10 trillion to $9.9995 trillion.
You are probably right. Remember the total shock of the media when Reagan's funeral procession passed in California (one of the most liberal states in the union) and all those cars pulled over the people got out? The media was so sure they had destroyed his legacy too.
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