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Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Good enough for Mickey Mouse, good enough for Bush
The official, final, for-real decision on where the George W. Bush Presidential Library will be built hasn’t officially, finally, really been made, but an architect has been selected to design the facility destined for Dallas.
The library’s foundation announced today that Robert A.M. Stern Architects LLP , which has designed several Disney projects, was given the job after the president and first lady met with Stern last Thursday at their Crawford ranch.
The foundation is in what it calls “exclusive discussions” with Southern Methodist University as the site for the library and museum. Longtime Bush friend Donald Evans, the head of the library project, said the final decision on the location should be made later this year.
“We believe it is important to take this ste of naming the architect to allow for the design process to begin moving forward,” said Evans citing Stern’s “deep resources and broad experience.”
Stern is dean of the Yale School of Architecture, Bush’s alma mater (Yale, not the architecture school).
The New York-based firm has a 38-year history and a long list of awards. Stern has designed libraries, museums, academic buildings and other projects. The Bush library project also will include a policy institute that wil be “a forum for scholarly study and the exchange of ideas.”
The firm’s projects include the Disney BoardWalk and Disney’s Yacht and Beach Club Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida; the American Revolution Center at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania; the International Quilt Study Center in Lincoln, Nebraska; and the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts in Houston.
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Housing outlook: bad and getting worse
The nation’s lousy housing market is still weakening, economic reports suggested Tuesday.
First, Standard and Poor’s S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index showed that home prices fell in the second quarter by a record 3.2 percent from a year earlier. Later, David Seiders, chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders, told reporters on a conference call that demand for new homes is declining faster than he expected just a month ago.
Builders are constructing houses at an annual rate that will fall to about 1 million by early next year, he said. In early 2006, homes were being built at an annual rate of 1.75 million. He labeled that a “stunning contraction.”
Seiders, who wants the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, said he doesn’t expect the outlook to improve until next year, and full recovery won’t come until 2011. At this point, he said, he is just “hoping for stabilization.”
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McCain signs up another Texan
The game of musical Texans continues at John McCain’s presidential campaign, this time with one joining the team.
Former Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher of Houston is now general chairman of the struggling campaign.
Here’s the latest scorecard on Texans on board with McCain:
John Weaver, longtime senior adviser to McCain, out.
Mark McKinnon, unpaid adviser, in.
Tom Loeffler, in charge of fundraising, in.
Mosbacher, commerce secretary under President George H.W. Bush, has been raising money for McCain for several months. The federal government also now might provide money for McCain. The Federal Election Commission reported today that McCain’s financially troubled campaign is now eligible for matching funds. Campaign officials, however, say no decision has been made on whether to take the money, which comes with some restrictions on how it can be spent.
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Huckabee Light On His Feet In Cancer Forum
Former Gov. Mike Huckabee or Arkansas is light on his feet, in more ways than one, as he demonstrated Tuesday at the Lance Armstrong cancer forum in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Huckabee is well known for having lost 110 pounds several years ago. But the Republican presidential candidate also is quick with a quip, and there was no shortage of them when it came his time to speak at the forum.
When asked about his weight loss, for example, Huckabee noted that the 110 pounds he shed was “more than Lance and his bicycle weigh” together.
When moderator Chris Matthews noted that Huckabee had once been “rotund,” the former governor replied, “That’s a nice way of saying ‘You were fat,’ Mike.’”
Later, when Matthews stumbled and referred to Cedar Rapids as “Grand Rapids,” Huckabee quickly interjected, “I know where I am. I’m trying to win Iowa.”
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Armstrong Tames Matthews’ “Hardball” Style
It took the likes of international cycling star Lance Armstrong to tame the aggressiveness of MSNBC’s “Hardball” host Chris Matthews during the second day of Armstrong’s presidential forum on cancer.
“Just be a little nicer,” Armstrong advised Matthews during a break between the questioning of the two Republican presidential candidates who participated, Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas and former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas.
And Matthews was, at least in the questioning of Huckabee. But in the earlier questioning of Brownback, Matthews had been especially aggressive in response to the senator’s suggestions about how to find money in the federal government to wage a war on cancer.
Brownback had proposed that the next president set up a system similar to the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process used by the administration and Congress to avoid political controversies over the closing of military bases around the country.
Matthews lashed into Brownback, suggesting that the senator was trying to avoid making the tough choices between competing priorities. “Leaders have to choose. You’re trying to get a machine to do it for you,” Matthews said.
Before admonishing Matthews, however, Armstrong threw up his hands and admitted, “I’ve never even heard of the BRAC process.”
Neither had many of the nearly one thousand people attending the forum. They enthusiastically applauded Armstrong’s remarks.
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