The humble bus seems to be gaining in popularity as a political instrument. Tomorrow, October 31, you’ve got not one but two chances to see how the big, lumbering vehicles are becoming surprisingly nimble as symbols of various issues—depending who’s driving, of course.
The first one that’ll be in town is the WhoFarm bus, described as a "double-decker upside down school bus with a garden on top" (you can see what that actually looks like here). WhoFarm stands for White House Organic Farm; the group at the wheel here is petitioning the next president to plant an organic farm right there at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
I love this idea. I was saying a couple weeks ago as my husband and I pulled up our tomato plants, "When are we gonna get a president who gardens?" I’d feel a lot more connected to the president as a person—regardless of party—if I thought we shared the experience of waking up in the morning and peering outside to check on the chard. And WhoFarm has a whole list of other great reasons for the next prez to do this. They and their bus will be at the Monticello’s Center for Historic Plants, Friday morning, then at UVA’s Madison Bowl starting around 2pm. (This is appropriate because they envision planting the WhoFarm with heirloom seeds passed down from Thomas Jefferson’s gardens. Woot!)
Then there’s the Bush Legacy Bus, which as you’ll quickly figure out if you go to its website, is not exactly a rolling shoutout to the ol’ lame duck. Nope, it’s a "museum on wheels" that aims to skewer Bush on the economy, the war in Iraq, health care and gas prices—and to connect Republican candidates like Virgil Goode and John McCain to Bush’s policies. This is a project of Americans United for Change and, though it doesn’t seem to include green issues on its agenda, the bus is running on biodiesel. I guess that’s basically de rigueur, at this point, for any lefty group that wants to push 28 tons of talking points down the highway. Enter and be inundated, 10-11am at Barracks Road Shopping Center.
No word yet from the Straight Talk Express.