The Sequoia, A Call for Responsibility

Sandy at the LightUpTheDarkness Blog wrote this interesting view on the recent approval for the U.S. to buy back the Presidential yacht:

Considering the full out assault on our National Park System and wildlands by the Bush Administration, the fact that he has created only three new national parks, a record low of any administration since 1900, and that just today, it has been reported that the USS Arizona Memorial's visitors center is sinking and cracking; it is not surprising that President Bush's interest in a Presidential yacht would raise some eyebrows. Particularly a two million dollar yacht when we have soldiers scouring Iraqi dumps to armor their vehicles.

Still, hopefully we can see the value of The Sequoia beyond the tragically misguided Iraq war. After all, the federal government owns $328 billion of real estate, including aristocratic estates like Camp David and the Wye River Plantation. To draw the line at a boat for the President seems a bit trivial, two million dollars isn’t all that much to preserve a National Historic Landmark for future generations and keep it from becoming a riverboat casino in Russia. The Sequoia is perhaps the most famous vessel in America and the scene of some of America 's most historic events. Commissioned during the Harding administration, it was used by FDR and Eisenhower in the planning of D-day; Truman conducted the world's first nuclear arms control summit; Eisenhower entertained Korean War veterans; Kennedy celebrated his last (46th) birthday party; LBJ lobbied for civil rights legislation, and Nixon negotiated the first arms control treaty with the Soviet Union.

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