The Bushes in Preston Hollow: How Iraq May Follow Them There

It has been 18 years since the north Dallas homestead of J.R. Ewing departed prime time, leaving behind the vision of glittering oil baron balls, Dallas skyscrapers and infidelity at Southfork. That "larger-than-life" image of Dallas society lingered in the minds of people around the country. Now, a former U.S. President who has dabbled a bit in the oil business, has come to the north Dallas neighborhood of Preston Hollow. George and Laura Bush have back moved in.

George and Laura Bush

Preston Hollow is, or has been, home to the rich and famous: Ross Perot, Roger Staubach, Mary Kay Ash, T. Boone Pickens, American Airlines' Bob Crandall, and the Bushes until he was elected Texas Governor. It's said that purchasing a "tear-down" in Preston Hollow will cost about $800,000 with estates costing up to $40 million.

The 8,500 sq. ft. Bush home is at 10141 Daria Place, and the street was gated and closed to the public when the Bushess moved in. Neighbors are waiting to see what happens next. David Feherty, a journalist, a CBS golf commentator and a neighbor living about a "par-5" away from the Bush's new home has some advice for the President and Mrs. Bush - move to Crawford - build an alligator-filled moat around the place - come back to Dallas in about 30 years... Feherty seems to be a social crank, and I find that unusual because he's a "golf analyst," after all and that whole golf scene is usually so friendly and gentlemanly (except for Tiger's recent and accelerated tantrums). Feherty likes "Dubya," however" and he is sympathetic to the plight of the former First Family as they try to maneuver the local rich and famous:

Even with their Secret Service entourage, the Bushes are going to be besieged by herds of North Dallas McMansion-dwellers, more brown-nosed and full of BS than any longhorn. Nouveaux riche and face-lifted old-monied fossils alike will descend upon them like ants to the honeypot every time they set foot outside their door. The area that encompasses the Park Cities and Preston Hollow is home to roaming packs of these social climbers. I’m talking to you, the guy with the champagne flute, the stupid grin, and the trophy wife who, if she has one more facelift, will be wearing a triangular beard. You’re just the type who will want to show that famous hospitality for which Texas is renowned, and your nasty little dog will try to hump poor Miss Beazley half to death. (Although that former First Scottish Terrier has shown some gnashers recently, so Fido beware.)

Pretty funny, actually. The advice to return to Dallas in about 30 years was to allow the time needed before "any of us knows the truth about how and why he [President Bush] played some of the rotten cards he was dealt," addressing the Bush legacy of Iraq and Afghanistan:

From my own experience visiting the troops in the Middle East, I can tell you this, though: despite how the conflict has been portrayed by our glorious media, if you gave any U.S. soldier a gun with two bullets in it, and he found himself in an elevator with Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Osama bin Laden, there’s a good chance that Nancy Pelosi would get shot twice, and Harry Reid and bin Laden would be strangled to death. I’ve never met a soldier who didn’t love this president and this country, and I’ve met a bunch of them, at home and abroad, in hospitals and in theater.

At Walter Reed, Bethesda Naval Medical Center, and the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, I have visited dozens of patients, and I always ask of them before I leave: “What do you want to do when you get out?” No matter how broken or burned, or how many limbs they are missing, they give only one answer: “I want to go back. I want to rejoin my team, to finish our mission.” They are rightfully proud of what they have done and want nothing more than to be with their brothers and sisters in arms, because they know the consequences if their job is left unfinished. Right here on American soil, we will end up with unqualified people having to do the job they have been doing over there so incredibly well, and with such extraordinary compassion. The fact is, Americans in America have been safe since 9/11, almost the whole length of G2’s term as president, and for that we should be thankful.

I don't know about you, but that choked me up a bit. I hope Mr. and Mrs. Bush receive many blessings in their new home, because I know they will be a blessing to many. Read the entire article at D Magazine, with more insight into the President and First Lady and what life might be like for them in Preston Hollow. Here's a hat tip to Jules Crittenden.