There goes the neighborhood

It must be nice to be planning on moving into a four-and-a-half-bath home with servants quarters and having The New York Times call it "downsizing": 

As hard as it may be to leave 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the president and first lady, Laura Bush, have settled on a new home in the upscale Preston Hollow neighborhood of Dallas, a spokeswoman for Mrs. Bush said Thursday.

The 8,501-square-foot, four-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bath residence may be cozier than the White House, but its location at the end of a tree-lined cul-de-sac, flanked by several estates, will provide a measure of privacy the Bushes have not enjoyed for years.

The home, which has a market value of just over $2 million, according to property records, was built in 1959 and sits on 1.13 acres.

Suppose the president will forget where he is and wander out into the garden occasionally, surprised and saddened to find no waiting microphone and press corps? Are the neighbors going to be annoyed by all the pollsters showing up every day to ask what their approval of the new neighbor is compared with the last time they were asked?

It figures that the president, really more of an "Eastern elite" than a real Texan, would choose Dallas as his next city of residence. I'd have liked him more (finally) if he'd picked Fort Worth or, even better, Hill Country.