12/15/00 12:00 p.m.
Why Waco Matters
Waco’s liberation.

he last eight years have all been about Waco. The raid on the Branch Davidian compound, of course, immortalized Waco. The incompetence of the raid and the president's abandonment of responsibility became emblematic of the Clinton administration. Waco was seared into the nation's consciousness of a bungling and mendacious regime.

Now, we have the Waco liberation. Although, the Bush ranch is technically in Crawford, it is clearly within Waco's orbit. Much of the press describes the ranch as "near Waco." Good enough for government work.

The writer is intimately familiar with Waco. I grew up there, although I abandoned it almost 30 years ago. Having this knowledge of the area, I am dumbfounded that anyone would have a ranch located there. Unlike the beautiful Texas hill country where LBJ located his ranch, this part of central Texas is flat, hot, and ugly. My memories of Crawford are dead locusts and heat as intense as the surface of the sun.

So, why Waco? Waco is W.'s escape from the chattering class. It is his oasis apart from the commentariat. Waco and its environs constitute the buckle in the Bible belt. Waco is the Baptist Vatican. It is the home of Baylor University, the Baptist Notre Dame without the victorious football team.

It is a town known as being "first in religion, last in football." Up until the last few years, dances, known as "foot functions," was not allowed on the Baylor campus. Although Democrats have always represented Waco and vicinity in Congress, it is a deeply conservative part of the world. They are "Bob Bullock" Blue Dog Democrats. During the height of the anti-war sixties, my high-school classmates adamantly supported the war. It was not Berkeley, or for that matter, Austin.

W. chose Crawford and Waco, not for its natural beauty, but because it is the ultimate refuge from the chattering class. Nothing seems to irritate W. like what LBJ referred to as "those Harvards." Well, Waco sure ain't Cambridge. Of course, the irony is that Bush is a Yale and Harvard alum and attended high school back east. Even his hometown, Midland, was more Texas elite than, for example, its sister city, Odessa.

Since there are no accommodations in Crawford, many reporters will skip Waco and bunk in Austin about 90 miles to the south. But those who choose to stay in Waco will be exposed to those middle-American hometown values that were reflected in the "fly-over" vote for Bush over Gore. Plus, they can also tour the Dr. Pepper Museum and the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame.

Indeed, Waco is the metaphor for fly-over, and that is why it is the home to the western White House.