Sunday, February 17, 2008
Bush is irrelevant in Crawford, too.
Nobody really cares about a dusty old corner of Texas when the local big wig is a lame duck, soon to be a has been. And when his signature achievement is being the worst president ever, you can't eat well off that either.
From certain angles, this town looks as if it already got hit by a recession. The gift shop next to the police station closed about a year ago, and there's a "Building For Sale" banner flapping from the cornice. Two other gift shops have long since gone out of business. Another one is open now only on weekends. Two more are still going, but they sometimes close early in the day during the lonely winter months.They had their day in the sun and now they can live a normal life again while their most famous citizen goes back to raising cedar and milking stallions.
The Bush boom is over.
"It didn't last. You can only sell so many souvenirs," says the former mayor, Robert Campbell.
When the then-governor of Texas bought a ranch outside of town in 1999, Crawford suddenly became more than just a crossroads west of Waco. When George W. Bush became president of the United States, the village sprouted signs declaring itself the Western White House. Property values spiked. World leaders made regular appearances. A new bank branch opened on the main intersection.
But Bush is now a lame duck, and this little piece of Bush Country is in a transitional moment
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