As Barack Obama was taking the oath of office on Jan. 20, there was another ceremony happening at San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf. The figure of George W. Bush at the Wax Museum was being removed from its place of honor as befits an incumbent president of the United States. A wax likeness of Obama will take its place later this year. The figure of Bush was taken away without incident.
It may come as a disappointment to some readers but it was not pulled down with ropes by an enraged mob. No popcorn from the nearby vendors on Jefferson St. was thrown. No angry tourists were on hand to shake their fists at the wax dummy, shouting epithets. (Remember, it's easier to shout epithets than to spell them. I wonder if anyone ever ran through a cemetery shouting epitaphs -- but I digress) No, there was no shouting at all (not until people found parking tickets left on their windshields later; at Fisherman's Wharf, parking is such sweet sorrow). No shoes were thrown at the waxen Bush, either. Besides, who can afford to throw their shoes away these days? Now that I think of it, Shoe Pavilion, too, has gone out of business. Bankruptcy is a hallmark of the Bush years. All the same, as George Bush left office and departed his place at the Wax Museum, there were no protests, no ugly words, no recriminations, no hard feelings. Not much. All along Bush St. on Jan. 20 the street signs were covered over with "Obama" stickers. But that was as pointed as the demonstrations got.
David Perry, who manages the publicity at the Wax Museum, says there were several suggestions as to what to do with the wax figure of George Bush.
"Someone suggested that we stick a wick at the top of his head, and melt him down," said David. "At the cost of around $20,000 for one of these figures, that's not likely to happen. I can't tell you the other ideas because I know you write for a family newspaper."
A shame Bush can't become a candle. That way he might have been one of the best and the brightest after all.
No, the removal of Bush's likeness from its place of honor was all very friendly and civil, emulating the peaceful transfer of power that we witnessed in Washington. There was a party atmosphere down there at the Wharf as there was all over the country on Inauguration Day. When the giggling subsided, Wax Museum Curator Curtis Huber simply picked up the fellow, put him under his arm, and trundled him off to the Hall of Former Presidents in the Museum.
"It's in a darker corner now," explained David Perry.
How dark is it? The Bushwax could use a candle for company. But a candle, I guess, is the last thing the owners of a wax museum would like to see around the house.
And so Bush is a former president. No. 43 has left the building on Pennsylvania Ave., as he says, "with my head held high."
His head is still intact at the Wax Museum, too -- held high, no doubt, by Mucilage or something.
On Jan. 20 all heads seemed to be turned toward Obama, all minds tuned into a message of hope.
"For as much as government can do and must do," Obama said in his Inaugural speech, "it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate."
Bush is not needed, even for candles. That's fine. We'll light our own. We've gone through a long patch of darkness. It's time to bask in the luminosity of hope. Even the optimistic Obama suggests that things are going to get pretty murky, get pretty rough before they get better. So Iet's light a candle for someone, and offer a prayer. A candle signifies renewal, a chance for change. I don't want to get bogged down with old grievances. What's that old Chinese proverb? It's better to light a candle than to curse the man who might've been melted down at the Wax Museum, right? Something like that. I'll go Google it.
Bruce Bellingham is a columnist for SF Northside and Media People and the author of Bellingham by the Bay published by Council Oak Books.
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