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January 13, 2005
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January 13, 2005 |
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EDITORIAL Bush’s inauguration, Texas style President Bush is from Texas, so it’s no wonder he wants to do everything big. He has led a big agenda in Washington, D.C. He pushed through big tax cuts, though mainly for the rich. He has been a record fundraiser, giving new meaning to how big money influences politics. He invaded Iraq and overthrew Saddam Hussein with the big idea of transforming the Middle East. And next week he’s throwing a big party. On the heels of his re-election, after a hotly contested race, the president and his people are planning what is expected to be the most expensive presidential inauguration ever, breaking the record-setting $40 million spent on Mr. Bush’s first inauguration in 2001. The president’s private inauguration committee is raking in the cash again. For the 2005 inauguration, which takes place on Jan. 20, the committee has received more than 40 donations from corporations, at $250,000 each, and at least 60 pledges from individuals, at $100,000, The New York Times reported. The price tag is expected to be even higher, according to the Toledo Blade, when you take into account the cost to the District of Columbia, which expects to spend $17.3 million for the inauguration. The corporations and fat cats who have supported Mr. Bush’s political campaigns are now helping to throw him this extravagant inauguration party. They’re also lining up to receive their rewards for being loyal: access. They’ve got four more years at the trough, and they expect to eat well. The inauguration will be an exercise in excess, including nine inaugural balls, three candlelight dinners, concerts, fireworks and record spending. All this while America is at war. The inauguration’s tight security and theme, “Celebrating Freedom, Honoring Service,” may reflect the times in which we live, but not the tone of the party. One would think that our state of war would have restrained the celebration, turned the music down, lessened the spending and excess. That would have been a better way to honor the more than 1,200 U.S. troops who have died and the thousands more who have been wounded while fighting in Iraq.
Correction Last week’s editorial on the News’ 125th anniversary mistakenly reported that the anniversary took place in 2004. Since the paper started publishing in 1880, the correct year is 2005.
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