As hopeful as people were regarding the incoming Obama presidency, given the legacy left from eight years of the Bush administration’s time in power, no one was expecting to see much in the way of tangible, immediate changes. But San Francisco residents and tourists visiting San Francisco sightseeing attractions on Inauguration day might have been surprised to see some immediate manifestations of the change in power.
Bush Street (not named for either president), which runs east and west through the city from the Presidio through the financial district, had its street signs replaced with authentic looking replicas done in the same fashion as the originals, declaring it “Obama Street.” But those replacements were not by the city; they were done in jest by unknown vandals and were in the process of being removed by the city’s maintenance workers the next day. Across town at Fisherman’s Wharf, in the wax museum there, the statue of George W. Bush was hardly recognizable on Inauguration day, having been beheaded, as well as de-limbed by the museum employees for his move to a back section of the museum in order to make room for the likeness of Barack Obama to take center stage. One sign that did not appear in transition though was the proposed renaming of the San Francisco sewage plant to the George W. Bush Sewage Treatment Facility, a failed proposal on the ballot intended to signify the mess he’d made during his eight years in office. It is believed that the measure failed to pass not because people were opposed to the intended slight of Bush, as San Francisco is a predominantly anti-Bush city, but rather because many didn’t recognize the political commentary intended by the proposal and voted against it because they didn’t want to name anything to honor Bush.
