Posted on 02/07/2002 6:40:41 AM PST by billorites
For President Bush, there's life after dark.
True, no one is calling the second Bush White House a Kennedyesque center of glamour and socializing, or confusing Mr. Bush with Bill Clinton, who was up until the small hours of the morning making calls and playing cards.
But just because Mr. Bush was alone the other Sunday when he choked on a pretzel while watching a football game does not mean that he spends his evenings poring over his daily 40-page briefing book or having dinner on matching TV trays with Laura — one of the more memorable images of Ronald and Nancy Reagan during their White House years.
Staff members say that on most nights in the White House, Mr. Bush and his wife have small, largely unnoticed dinners for supporters, members of Congress and friends from Texas and Yale. "They just constantly have people in," said Anne Johnson, the wife of Clay Johnson, the White House personnel director who knows Mr. Bush from their prep school days at Andover.
Consider the Bush social schedule of last week.
On Monday, the Bushes had dinner at the White House with the Johnsons and Lois Betts, the wife of Roland Betts, a fraternity friend from Yale, the chairman of Chelsea Piers in New York City and one of the president's early Democratic supporters.
On Thursday, Mr. Bush dropped by a party for former Secretary of State George P. Shultz at the northwest Washington home of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.
On Friday, Mr. Bush had about 20 Republican members of Congress in for a Camp David
sleepover plus a screening of "Black Hawk Down," Washington's current must-see movie, on the disastrous 1993 mission in Somalia. On Saturday morning, the group had an hour and half legislative and political strategy session over breakfast.
It was then that Representative Tom DeLay, Republican of Texas, told the group — a participant well schooled in the ways of partisan combat said — that he had seen the name of Kenneth L. Lay, the former chairman of Enron, in the guest book of his cabin. The entry, he said, dated from the Clinton administration.
(Julia Payne, Mr. Clinton's spokeswoman, said yesterday that she had no reason to dispute any visit of Mr. Lay to Camp David. But Ms. Payne said she had no access to the Clinton archives or Mr. Clinton, who was on a plane to Seattle. Mr. Clinton has said that he played golf with Mr. Lay.)
Meanwhile, on Saturday night, the Bushes spent four hours with former President George Bush and Barbara Bush at the Capital Hilton at the Alfalfa Club dinner, an annual off-the-record banquet of political and well-connected Washington. Mr. Bush and his parents were not back at the White House until after 11 p.m., which was late for them.
The fact is, Mr. Bush is usually in bed by 10 p.m., meaning his social dinners are early and quick. Guests arrive at the White House about 6:30 p.m., around the time that the president walks back to the residence from the Oval Office. Dinner is at 7:30 p.m. and lasts only an hour.
"The president does everything fast, including eating dinner," said Ari Fleischer, the White House press secretary. "He's not a lingerer."
The occasion for Monday's dinner was to celebrate the president's appointment to the Kennedy Center board of Mrs. Betts and Mrs. Johnson, who are two of the four women recently appointed trustees. "Laura really wanted women on the board as much as possible," Mrs. Johnson said. "She has a lot to say about things, but quietly." Mr. Johnson was Mr. Bush's chief of staff when the president was governor of Texas.
Dinner consisted of lamb shish kebabs, rice and salad, Mrs. Johnson reported. She said she could not remember what she described as "a very big dessert," because she does not eat dessert. But the president does. "He'll eat your dessert, too, if you let him," she said.
The conversation over dinner with the Bushes is not usually centered on politics, Mrs. Johnson said. "It's really sort of a timeout for them," she said. "There is some discussion certainly of what is going on, but they entertain you, really. The president is quite a tease, and you get drawn into it."
By 9:30 p.m., she said, everyone usually has gone home. Typically the president is up the next day at 5 a.m.
At Camp David on Friday, the Republicans — including Speaker J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois, Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi and Representative Dick Armey of Texas — had cocktails, dinner and discussions with Vice President Dick Cheney and the senior White House staff on the party's Congressional agenda. Discussions continued over an 8 a.m. breakfast on Saturday at a big table in Laurel Lodge.
During the weekend, Mr. Fleischer said, Mr. Cheney previewed for the group the position he would take on the Sunday morning talk shows, which was to refuse once again to turn over documents demanded by Congress as part of an inquiry into workings of the administration's energy task force, including records of a meeting that Mr. Cheney had with Mr. Lay. No one disagreed with his position, Mr. Fleischer said.
Afterward, Mr. Bush asked the members if anyone would like to run with him. The president, who is now averaging a 6:50 mile during his three-mile runs through the Camp David woods, got no takers. "Everybody started looking at their feet," Mr. Fleischer said.
The president does everything fast...
I once read someone say about GW, "some people hit the ground running, GW jumps out of bed running." I noticed when I met him at a campaign event, that he is truly a ball of energy. Something about him...as if all parts of his body are in constant motion all the time. It really is quite extraordinary. I also read that he totally exhausts his guests at Camp David - running, playing tennis, bowling, etc. I am sure Laura is able to slow him down for a few things, however. ;o)
Yeah..this was an 'inadvertant find'. He he. I still say we need to ask hollings about ken lay's overnights during the cash and carry quid pro quos of the clinton reign of terror and degradation.
And yeah....GOD IS GOOD!
LOL!
You're mistaking him for the LAST president, who would have pinned you down.
You are mistaken, my friend - fast does not necessarily mean bad..... lol
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