Now that it seems certain impeachment isn’t going to happen, I’ve been thinking about what other recourse Americans have to ensure that justice is done – what we can do to remember, revile, punish, and avoid repeating the deeds of the worst President this country has ever had.
The efforts by the group out in San Francisco to have a sewage-treatment plant named in honor of W. seems to me to be in the right spirit. The symbolism of it can be read at a whole bunch of different levels, from ‘he was full of shit’ to ‘he took a giant dump on the country and on the Constitution’, to ‘his legacy was an enormous, stinking mess’.
The problem is that it’s basically all metaphor: if you didn’t know about all of W.’s awful, mind-blowing, fucktacular screwups to start with, you would be no wiser after visiting the treatment plant.
And I think it’s crucial, absolutely crucial, that future generations of Americans never, ever, ever forget what a choking nightmare his Presidency has been.
So what we need is a museum. Maybe several museums, in fact; but at least one.
Choice of location is important: an old used-car dealership perhaps, or a former county jail, or a church that was once struck repeatedly by lightning.
The space will have to be fairly sizeable, if it’s going to cover the fifty-four years of his life as a wastrel and princeling, and the top one hundred major scandals and catastrophes associated with his two terms as president.
There should be several dozen tv monitors running continuous loops of all his most famous moments, from his giving his finger to the camera as governor to his giving Angela Merkel a backrub as president.
There should be photos and quotations and a library – a library of all the books written on his disastrous tenure – well, if it includes all the books, there may not be much room left for the rest of the museum…
There should be rotating exhibits with special themes, like W. vs. Science, W. vs. Grammar, Partying While The Big Easy Drowns, or Abu Gonzales and the Torture President.
There should be regular lectures by victims and experts on W. from all over the world, as well as repentant collaborators, both Democrat and Republican.
In the interest of fairness, there should be an exhibit on the one positive thing that W. did as President: sign into law the Do Not Call legislation.
There should be an online version of the museum with a virtual tour for people who can’t travel to the site due to poverty or disability incurred during the W. years.
In the back corner there should be a tiny, dusty, unlit room smelling vaguely of decomposing rodents with a sign over its entrance that reads, “W’s Soul.”
Admission should be $10 per head for anyone who was of voting age on November 7th, 2000, and free for everyone else; 10% of annual proceeds should go to various charities that aid survivors of W.
Other suggestions?