On the plaza at the Bush Center with thousands of VIPs.
Karl Rove, Karen Hughes and Mark McKinnon mingled with the likes of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, House Speaker John Boehner and famous and unknown alumni of the Bush era.
Jim Oberwetter, a former ambassador to Saudi Arabia and president of the Dallas Regional Chamber, called it a great day.
“But the bigger import is what it means for the city and for SMU. I believe it moves us up a notch in terms of international. Because it becomes a center for academic discussion and debate in addition to the programs our president has,” he said.
As for Bush, Oberwetter said, “He served at a very difficult time in our nation’s history and 9-11 shaped his presidency. Yes, there’s a lot of controversy remaining but President Obama has continued many of the policies that the president put in place, especially with respect to counterterrorism.”
U.S. Rep. Roger Williams, a longtime Bush friend who had feared that votes would keep him in Washington, scored a pretty good seat stage left.
“There’s not that many presidential libraries, and for Texas to have three, it’s a big deal,” he said. “Right here, there’s a so much loyalty to this president and what he went through and the eight years. It’s just a great culmination of what his legacy’s going to be about. It’s a chance to remind people he did a lot things, a lot of great things, for those eight years.”
The governors of Texas, Arizona and New Jersey are on hand. Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz and former Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison are here, along with seven Texas congressmen, all Republicans: U.S. Reps. Kay Granger, Michael Burgess, Jeb Hensarling, Pete Sessions, Mike Conaway, Kenny Marchant and Roger Williams.