* The most expensive presidential library ever, funded with the gifts of grateful felons. Even the (hardly crusading) Washington Post was revolted by this, noting in an editorial: "The last thing we want to do is dampen the festivities in Little Rock, where the Clinton Presidential Center is opening today, but does anybody remember Marc Rich? He's the fugitive financier who was pardoned by President Bill Clinton on his way out of office -- after Mr. Rich's ex-wife, songwriter Denise Rich, gave $450,000 to the foundation raising money for this very same library. The pardon scandal spotlighted a dangerous gap in financial disclosure rules: Sitting presidents are free to raise millions for their future presidential libraries without having to reveal who is writing the checks. ...These libraries are expensive; Mr. Clinton's cost $165 million, and we still don't know the sources of much of that money." < http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58805-2004Nov17.html>
* An obscene group-grope of GWB and ex-presidents in a bogus display of national unity. I did appreciate GWB's sly line that was supposedly a tribute to Clinton's legendary politicking skills: "A man in Saline County once said that Bill Clinton can look you in the eye, shake your hand, hold your baby and pet your dog - all at the same time." This line was clearly intended as a reminder of Clinton's most celebrated act of multi-tasking -- simultaneously eating a pizza, lobbying on the phone and getting a blow job.
* One ugly-piece-of-shit library design. Even the radiantly self-satisfied Bill Clinton devolved to a brief moment of bitterness at the dedication when he noted that "a British magazine said it [the library] looked like a glorified house trailer." That was a dig at The Economist for describing the library (accurately enough) as "trailer-home chic." The building's design was actually intended, Clinton explained, to be "the symbol of a bridge, a bridge to the 21st century." I must admit that when you look at it carefully the library's design *is* a fitting symbol of the Clinton presidency, since it appears to be a bridge to nowhere.
Carl