Bush to Visit Reagan Library

Ventura County Star: "President Bush is scheduled to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library's Air Force One Pavilion in Simi Valley Friday. Invited by officials at the library, President Bush and his wife plan to attend the 11 a.m. ceremony and a 1 p.m. lunch...."

Look at this one. Recently I read that the Reagan Library sent a cease and desist letter to a political candidate who wanted to display his own photographs of himself with Reagan at his website. The Library forced him to remove the photographs because they implied an endorsement from Reagan, even though they did not hold the rights to the photographs. As the keepers of Reagan's memory and legacy, they reason, they have final say over how Reagan's image is used.

But now look what they've done in connection with an upcoming ceremony at the Library. They think they look good when they have the president of the United States come to the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Air Force One. Instead, they associate Reagan's memory with the living image of the worst president we have ever had. What a double standard! An unknown, aspiring candidate who wants to show a picture of himself shaking hands with Reagan receives a cease and desist order. That's an unauthorized use of Reagan's image, they say? But if the Reagan Library can brush up its own image with a presidential visit, no travesty is too great. Who gave the Reagan Library authority to stain the legacy of this great man with the squalor and crimes of our current president? How can they think that having a president like this one present during this significant ceremony will benefit Reagan's legacy? Bush brings shame with him wherever he goes.

No scandal or neglect of Ulysses Grant or Warren Harding equals the horrible mistake that Bush has made. No paranoid spying or dirty tricks by Nixon approximates the discredit that Bush has brought on this great nation. Certainly no disgrace of Clinton's second term comes close. With one war in the spring of 2003, Bush proclaimed to the world, "We don't care to lead you anymore. We don't even consider you worthy of our leadership. We intend to throw off responsibility for the world system of law and politics we've created. We'll do what we want." The results of that proclamation were predictable enough, and we see the seeds of those results around us now. No country looks to us for leadership now. No country expects us to act in anything but our own interests. No country can feel safe in a system where the powerful attack the weak. In this case, the attacker is not only powerful: the very guarantor of peace and security broke loose and wreaked death out of an elemental surge of fear and a lust for revenge.

I gave a speech at the Reagan Library once. It was in the spring of 2002. Mark Burson, the executive director of the Reagan Foundation, invited me to come to the Library to talk about Reagan. Not so long after that visit, the Library's leadership changed. The current director of the Reagan Foundation is Duke Blackwood. According to the Ventura County Star, he played hardball with the docents that the library dismissed on the grounds that they were too old to carry out their duties. He said in a letter that if they talked with the press, they would suffer consequences. I'm not sure how you can threaten volunteers you've just dismissed, but he did it.

Anyway, Mr. Blackwood now thinks he as a big event going with the opening of the pavilion that houses Air Force One. They've been preparing for this important gathering for a long time. They've raised lots of money for the pavilion, and the opening ceremony is a good way to say thank you for your contributions: and we hope to see more of you and your checkbook. What a victory the Library thought it had achieved when the president accepted its invitation to speak at the ceremony! We are proud to present ...the president himself! The young, vigorous and handsome George W. Bush, president of the United States. The true bearer of Reagan's bright vision into our country's hopeful future.

It's not bright anymore, and hope's going to disappear fast when our citizens discover what this president has done to our reputation. Keep him far away from Reagan and his memory. Keep him far away from the Reagan Library and anyplace associated with Reagan's name. Send a cease and desist letter: no person of such low stature, who brought shame upon his country, shall associate himself with the memory of this great leader. No person who ruined Reagan's strong, hopeful vision, who razed the bright city on a hill and replaced it with pyramids of naked prisoners, shall set foot on the ground where Reagan is buried. It could imply an endorsement.