We know that Laura Bush was a registered Democrat when she met George W. We know that she calls herself a "Republican-by-marriage". And many of us active in the arts community know that the only reason the NEA and NEH have not faced devastating cuts under the Bush Administration is because Laura Bush was a teacher and a librarian, and values both agencies. This is astonishing considering that the elimination of the NEA and NEH was high on the list of things that the 1994 Republican Congress wanted accomplished. Enter Laura.
While Bush is said to have never once exercised his borrowing privileges at the Presidential library (compare to Clinton's omnivorous appetite for books), Laura Bush argued for an ambitious 15% increase in funding for the nation's libraries and museums.
Now there's this:
BUSH TO SEEK BIG BUDGET INCREASE FOR NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS... Laura Bush plans to announce the request -- for the largest increase in two decades -- on Thursday...
What can I say? Thank you Mrs. Bush. I'm sure that the AIDS money to Africa (unfulfilled) and the announced worker's amnesty program must have had your seal of approval as well...
I have long said that I am a four-issue voter:
(1) cut the defense budget; (2) move toward a more progressive system of taxation; (3) establish humanitarian foreign policy based on international law and human rights; (4) combat anti-intellectualism and encourage promotion of the national arts and humanities
So far, I've found a candidate who addresses the first three to my satisfaction. But none of the major candidates has anything on their campaign sites about promoting the arts and humanities. Nothing on the issue pages at all.
That's disappointing.
I would never vote for George W Bush in a general election. Just not possible. But it's rather regrettable that he, or rather his wife, is the only major candidate at the moment dedicated to publicly and financially promoting the nation's artistic and cultural institutions (at considerable risk of alienating his base, I might add).
Small victories...