FACING the prospect of a lame-duck last two years in office, President George W. Bush has decided to focus on what he hopes will form the cornerstone of his legacy - the George W. Bush Presidential Library. The cost of this memorial has been estimated at US$500 million, three times the sum spent on his predecessor Bill Clinton's presidential library. Although specific plans remain secret, some details are known. The library is likely to be built at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.The institution recently gave the president an honorary doctorate. The centrepiece of the library is expected to be a public policy centre, possibly called the Institute for Democracy. The centre will be designed to espouse what Bush hopes will be seen as the defining themes of his presidency - "compassionate conservatism, the spread of freedom and democracy throughout the world, and defeating terrorism." But two key questions remain, who will pay for it and what will it contain? The Clinton library has 75 million documents but White House watchers say such voluminous paperwork is unlikely to emerge from Bush administration.
(China Daily,Nov. 30, 2006)
离卸任还有两年时间,美国总统乔治布什就已决定关注乔治布什总统图书馆的建设工作,他期望该馆成为自己政绩的奠基石。 据预计,该馆将耗资5亿美元。这一数目是布什的前任总统比尔克林顿总统图书馆建设费用的三倍。尽管该馆的具体建设计划目前仍是一个谜,但某些细节已公之于众。据了解,该图书馆很有可能建在得克萨斯州达拉斯市的南卫理工会大学。该学院不久前授予了布什名誉博士学位。图书馆的中心部分将成为一个公共政策研究中心,可能被命名为民主学院。 在设计上,该中心将彰显布什在任期间所倡导的主题思想——“富于爱心的保守主义、向全世界播洒自由与民主的思想、打击恐怖主义”。然而,图书馆的费用由谁承担,及图书馆中将放置什么物品这两个关键问题目前仍未知。 克林顿总统图书馆拥有7500万册文献资料。白宫观察员认为,如此大量的文献资料出现在布什总统图书馆的可能性很小。