Bush puts a leash on Barney while Spot waits to board Air Force One for his return to Washington, D.C. (Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald)
Posted on 09/02/2002 12:17:14 PM PDT by McLynnan
At 10:33 a.m. Sunday, President Bush ended his summer vacation, though he did it differently from most Americans.
McLennan County's most famous resident left his ranch outside the tiny Central Texas town of Crawford, boarded Air Force One at the Texas State Technical College Airport in nearby Waco and headed for Washington, D.C.
The president also spent his monthlong vacation differently from most Americans. He oversaw an economic forum at Baylor University that attracted everyone from working stiffs to CEOs. And he huddled at his ranch with White House advisers and Cabinet officials over military preparedness amid tough talk about confronting Iraq.
When he wasn't in McLennan County, he leapfrogged across the nation, attending fund-raisers for Republican candidates he needs to maintain the GOP's slim hold on the House and regain control of the Senate. For all his supposed awkwardness at the lectern, he raised $9 million during his August vacation. This year he has far surpassed the $105 million total his smooth-tongued predecessor raised in 2000.
The month's only embarrassment came when Mexican President Vincente Fox canceled a Texas tour that included a visit to the Bush ranch in late August. Local leaders, including prominent Hispanics, lamented Fox's decision to make a point about capital punishment being employed in Texas against a convicted murderer Fox claimed was a Mexican national, but they believe Bush-Fox relations remain solid.
When he wasn't handling affairs of state and the necessities of party business, Bush was at his ranch, clearing cedar brush under the blistering Central Texas sun, all while claiming to enjoy such down-to-earth pursuits. He even rhapsodized about the dangers that uncontrolled cedar growth hold for area oak trees — insights that might hearten environmentalists who normally doubt Bush.
Meanwhile, the Bush administration weathered jokes from comedians such as Jay Leno, poking fun at monthlong presidential vacations. Yet, Bush maintained a breakneck pace that included hosting a spirited Aug. 16 lunch hour for local volunteers of various Western White House functions in Crawford — and on the same day that he hosted a gathering of high-dollar GOP donors from across the country.
"You know, he is the leader of the most powerful country in the world, but that is so much like him," said Waco-based economist Ray Perryman, who joined Bush at the month's economic forum. "I do think he played a little less golf this time. And I think he spent more time traveling than he used to, and that's probably because it's an election year.
"But when you're the president, you can't exactly lounge around."
White House officials routinely dismiss poll figures, but Bush had reason to keep up a busy pace. A few days before traveling to the ranch dubbed the Western White House, he saw his latest public approval rating dip to 65 percent — impressive for many chief executives, but down from his own high of 88 percent last autumn.
Considering that his father's presidential numbers were over 90 percent in the wake of the Gulf War, only for George H.W. Bush to lose the White House the following year because of rising concerns over the economy, George W. Bush was well-motivated to mount an economic forum during his vacation.
Pundits ridiculed the fact the event lasted but a few hours. However, even some Texas Democrats saw value in the idea of at least airing economic ideas at a forum.
"They're issues that won't be solved overnight, but it was good to get them on the table and get discussions started," said John Mabry Jr., a Democrat running for state representative in Bush's back yard.
Despite some criticism of the Aug. 13 forum, Perryman says one of its chief merits was a lively mix of participants.
"I don't think anyone thought it was going to solve all the world's problems," he said. "But there was a diversity of people that included small-business owners and pensioners. And because of the way it was organized and how security was arranged, everyone was very accessible.
"You had a lot of these people being able to walk up to, say, a Cabinet official and express themselves, and these high-level White House officials would listen."
Fears over the economy promise to dominate fall elections, though Perryman says the situation is significantly different from the economic crisis that confronted the president's father, who watched his popularity plummet in 1992 even after a masterstroke of world diplomacy that allowed quick resolution of the Gulf War.
"I think one big difference between George W. and his father is that his father's economic woes came late in his term and George's W.'s are comparatively early," the noted economist said. "So there's time for him to have a chance to find his voice and demonstrate his leadership over the issue.
"I do think that what happened to his dad is causing him to focus more on this issue."
The president also spent much of August sending up smoke signals about Iraq that, while less warlike than the aggressive tone emphasized by Vice President Dick Cheney, nevertheless stress the dangers of an Iraq still run by a dictator left untouched during the war managed by Bush's father.
The biggest protest mounted in Crawford during Bush's August vacation was staged by several groups expressing fear about the Bush administration's seeming determination to attack Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein — a concern also expressed when Prince Bandar bin Sultan, longtime Saudi ambassador to the United States, visited Bush last week.
Bandar's time at the ranch, analysts say, suggests the great respect Bush has for the veteran ambassador. Indeed, Bandar was treated to a grilled chicken feast and given a much-envied tour of the 1,600-acre ranch. The prince brought his family along, including one child who attends nearby Baylor University.
"It was an interesting role for him," Mark Long, director of Middle Eastern studies at Baylor University, said of the articulate and engaging Saudi diplomat. "Twelve years earlier it was Bandar who went back to Saudi Arabia with Dick Cheney, who was then secretary of defense, and convinced King Fahd that the situation was dire enough they should let U.S. troops deploy there."
Now the situation is different, which is why Bandar remained sympathetic but unconvinced of the need for attacking Iraq. Long says one reason the Saudi government and other Middle Eastern nations remain fearful of war with Iraq is because of its ethnological complexity and the fact that toppling Saddam could unleash conflicting elements prompting political and ethnic anarchy throughout the region.
"They (the Saudis) fear chaos, and they don't want chaos on their northern border," said Long, who notes the argument is quite rational and clear-cut for Arabs.
Saudi concerns over the wildly disparate and passionate elements currently kept in check by Saddam in some ways mirrored the very protesters who gathered near Crawford High School's football field Aug. 24 to demonstrate against the president's tough talk about Iraq. Protesters from different groups came from Dallas, Austin and Houston.
"It's really a mixed bag," marveled 47-year-old Waco protester George Reamy, already in Crawford when two chartered, air-conditioned buses of protesters arrived from Houston. "I have seen Green Party people walking around, socialists walking around and, well, I'm a 20-year veteran of the Navy who helped execute some of these policies in the past.
"I know I don't agree with the Greens. They just suck votes away from the Democrats."
For a few hours till associates arrived, a lone supporter of the president marched back and forth in an adjoining park while holding an American flag. The 50-ish Abilene woman, who declined to identify herself, said all the protests began to come together before Mexican President Fox canceled his visit to the Bush ranch.
"We know President Bush isn't even at his ranch today," the conservative Free Republic member said. "But we showed up because the other protesters showed up. We wanted them to know there's another viewpoint besides theirs. And the only reason they showed up is because Vincente Fox was supposed to show up and the national media would be here.
"And when Fox canceled and the national media went away . . . well, the protesters decided to just come anyway."
When someone pointed out to the woman that her fellow Bush-backing protesters had yet to show up, she sighed.
"Well, they're supposed to be here," she said, "but I'm convinced they got lost on the way to Crawford."
If the future of the economy remains clouded and war with Iraq an uncertainty, one thing Bush proved wildly successful at was fund raising, a testament to his popularity.
"A lot of it has to do with just who he is," said Gayle R. Avant of Baylor University's political science department. "He maintains a very positive image, an image of this kind of healthy family man. He gets his picture on the cover of Runner's World and, despite the problem his daughter has had at (the University of Texas), he has a good family image."
Even the fact Bush is rankled over Iraq plays well, regardless of whether Americans truly want war with Iraq.
"What he says resonates with the average American," Avant said. "Now it's not that Americans are taking a serious policy stance, but he reflects their anger. At the same time, he can go out and raise a bucket full of money for Republicans and do a lot of things that worry intellectuals such as what we will do after we attack Iraq.
"But much of what he says resonates."
Some of that rhetoric aired during Bush's final hours at the ranch during his weekly radio address Saturday. Bush urged public service as a way to honor victims of Sept. 11: "That spirit of courage and selflessness has shown the world why our nation is the greatest force for good in history."
The president's August vacation is over, but how he passed his time during the final dog days of summer foreshadow how he'll spend autumn — trying to reinvigorate the economy, justify his position on Iraq, convince voters to elect more Republicans and set a tone at once somber, patriotic and defiant during the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
How well he accomplishes such tasks may dictate how much extra time he has in the future to clear cedar brush from his ranch.
"We know President Bush isn't even at his ranch today," the conservative Free Republic member said. "But we showed up because the other protesters showed up. We wanted them to know there's another viewpoint besides theirs. And the only reason they showed up is because Vincente Fox was supposed to show up and the national media would be here.
"And when Fox canceled and the national media went away . . . well, the protesters decided to just come anyway."
OK who is it???
It's not me.
Bush puts a leash on Barney while Spot waits to board Air Force One for his return to Washington, D.C. (Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald)
And thanks, McLynnan, for posting this!
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