Presidential Memorials

Capo, writing at the Cleveland Park Men's Club (those of us living in or near Washington DC will recognize the geographic reference — oddly, there's a statue of Eleanor Roosevelt there, in the Washington National Cathedral), in a piece called "GWB Memorial: The Writing's on the Wall" (16 May 2005), begins by saying

A recent visit to the FDR memorial got me thinking. When did America stop making tough as nails leaders like this guy? And who the hell is President George W. Bush to compare himself to FDR? He wants to be like him so bad that he even went out and got himself the same kind of dog.

and then proceeds to offer a fascinating comparison between GWB and FDR.
Anyway, the title of his post got me thinking. Capo took his inspiration from a visit to the FDR memorial, which is built on the south side of the tidal basin in DC (not far from the Jefferson Memorial). It is structured as a garden, with fountains, arranged into "rooms" that correspond to FDR's terms in office. Sections of the rooms have statues and inscriptions on the granite walls: well-known and inspirational words from FDR's mouth. Its a nice place, and it's growing on me as a suitable memorial.
Anyway, it got me thinking. Someday, the inevitable will happen ("death and taxes" according to Mark Twain; although the "taxes" bit is questionable for Republicans, they haven't managed to repeal "death" yet) and some idiots will get all worked up about some suitable memorial for our current president.
What would a suitable memorial for W look like?
Tough question. If my blog had a huge readership, I'd probably consider sponsoring some sort of contest for a design, but it's asking a bit much of the three people who do read.
Anyway again, I have to give it more thought, but my first concept is along the lines of a very large (say, 10 feet of length for every person killed in Iraq) Claus-Oldenburg-style soft sculpture of an ostrich with its head buried in the ground.
But, like I say, it's just an initial concept.
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[18 May Update:] In case one of my three readers happens to miss the comments, Shakespeare's Sister has kindly taken on the design contest and put the question to her readership, so you might like to go there and join the fun.

Posted on May 17, 2005 at 17.00 by jns · Permalink
In: All, Splenetics

2 Responses

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  1. Written by Shakespeare's Sister
    on Wednesday, 18 May 2005 at 10.59
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    I'll post it on my blog and see what the Shakers come up with! :)

  2. Written by Cleveland Park Men's Club
    on Monday, 23 May 2005 at 22.51
    Permalink

    Thanks for the mention…Capo is an excellent writer…and doing a great job for us. Wait until you see what he's doing next…

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