November 10, 2003

The Man From Hot Springs Hope

Hope, Arkansas is a sleepy, slightly run-down community that has the standard assortment of fast food restaurants and gas stations, along with a small downtown section still awaiting redevelopment. There's very little Clinton-related stuff here: two of Clinton's boyhood homes, an eponymous middle school, and a boulevard named in his honor. One of the homes is now a museum, the other is in private hands. They used to have souvenir shops in the town selling Clinton-related merchandise, but they've since gone out of business. Unfortunately, tt was after dark when I visited, and the museum was closed.

The town was able to cash in on The Man From Hope for a while, but it didn't last. Which isn't perhaps too very surprising. First of all, he's not really The Man From Hope. Like most other things related to Clinton, his catchphrase is a bit of a lie.

While technically he is from Hope, his ties to and symbiosis with Hot Springs go much deeper. It would be much more accurate to call him "The Man From Hot Springs." However, as can be expected given the subject matter, accuracy loses out to what sounds better. Hope has a bit more of a nice small town vibe to it than Hot Springs ever could, so calling him The Man From Hope would also appear to be a bit of an insult to the town.

Posted to BloggingAcrossAmerica at November 10, 2003 08:32 PM

Comments

Hey dude,

Just wanted to tell you that you cracked me up on that Yglesias thread, with the Janet Reno sig. You might be interested in our site - we talk about immigration too, among other things (in a less-extreme-than-VDare-but-still-in-touch-with-reality kinda way).

Posted by: godlesscapitalist at November 10, 2003 10:24 PM