President-Elect Bush Does Dad Proud

WASHINGTON —  He sounded just like any proud father whose son is about to follow in his footsteps--confident and enthusiastic, at times also a bit defensive, and more than a little sentimental.

To be sure, this is no ordinary job progression, and is not without historical precedent.

“You want to talk about my boy Quincy?” George H.W. Bush quipped Sunday, referring to the first time in American history that the son of a president was elected to the nation’s highest office, when John Quincy Adams was inaugurated in 1825 to follow in his father’s footsteps. Bush added, however, that he has not dared call his son Quincy to his face.

“He’d kill me,” Bush said, adding he found it amusing that people referred to his son as “W,” which commentators adopted to differentiate between President George Herbert Walker Bush and his eldest son, George Walker Bush.

“When all that started, we were like: ‘C’mon, what’s happening here?’ But now we’re so proud--we’re bursting with pride. . . . Now it’s George W. as president of the United States, and I can’t describe it.”

In his interview with correspondent Sam Donaldson on ABC-TV’s “This Week,” Bush said that when his son laid claim to the presidency Dec. 13, “I was sobbing, literally like a tiny baby.”

President John Adams lived to see his son, John Quincy, elected president, and now Bush, 76, elected in 1988 for one term, is about to witness his own son, George W., 54, take the oath of office.

“I want to be in a back row somewhere, because I don’t know that I could take it,” he said of his anticipated emotions at the inauguration.

“It’ll be quite a day, but we want to be there as a mother and father observing and getting out of Dodge . . . being there for him if he gets hurt or wants us, but not opining all the time: ‘Here’s what you, son, should be doing about the economy.’

“The heck with that. I had my chance. And now it’s his, and he’ll do a wonderful job for the country.”

In the interview, the elder Bush waxed nostalgic about his own defeat for a second term at the hands of outgoing President Clinton, and defended his son’s appointments, the “legitimacy” of his election, and his IQ--all of which have been the subject of scrutiny and doubt.

“Do you think if a guy was dumb he would have been reelected governor of the second biggest state in the nation by 70% of the vote?” the elder Bush asked.

“He was blindsided by some idiot reporter--if you’ll excuse me, I’m now much freer to say what I think than when I was president--some guy got him and said, ‘Give me the name of the prime minister of this or the newly appointed general in Pakistan.’ And I’m saying to myself, ‘I don’t know the answer to these things.’

“And so people played off of that . . . and said: ‘This makes this man less than intelligent.’ It’s a bum rap.”

But he admitted to one serious mistake committed recently by his son: choosing brother Marvin as his horseshoe partner over his Dad.

“I found that offensive as the family champion in horseshoes,” Bush said. “I’m going to appeal. . . . I’m telling the American people he’s fair, [but] wait until we see how he handles this one.”

The scenario of President-elect Bush’s election has been eerily like that of John Quincy Adams, when Adams barely edged out his Democratic rival, Andrew Jackson, a former Tennessee senator who won the nation’s popular vote, just like the defeated Vice President Al Gore.

The elder Bush, the 41st president, and the elder Adams, the nation’s second president, were both born in Boston-area towns less than 10 miles apart, attended Ivy League schools, served as diplomats, and had one-term presidencies marked by foreign conflicts. Their political legacies were both carried on by their sons.

The 1824 postelection turmoil dragged on for weeks--actually into the following year--with the House finally deciding the outcome. Adams’ opponents charged that the election had been stolen, a familiar accusation to those following this year’s election process.

Jackson came back four years later and thrashed the younger Adams in the next election, but the senior Bush isn’t contemplating his son being vanquished the next time around by Gore, or anyone else.

“Certainly at this juncture, I don’t think about that,” he said.

He acknowledged that many Democrats are still complaining that his son stole the election, but “of course, I know that’s not true.” Had it gone the other way, “I think you’d have had just another 50% saying the election was stolen from George. But that’s history. Let’s get going here in this country. Let’s move forward.”

He dismissed the ongoing counting of Florida ballots by media groups and private citizens, saying: “Let them do what they want to do. George is the president, and let them go try to figure something out. . . . I’d like to see it go away.”

Reminded that his son’s appointment roster looks a lot like his own did, Bush said it was natural that experienced Republicans would return for top jobs. Observers could look at names from his presidency “and say, ‘Hey, these are all Ford people; these are all Reagan people.’ When they look at the totality of George’s Cabinet, they’ll see some new faces and they’ll see some very experienced people.”

He said he viewed President Clinton without rancor, and--asked whether he should be indicted after he leaves office--said he felt the legal system should investigate evidence of potential wrongdoing. But he seemed reluctant for the post-impeachment saga to continue.

“Do I hope something bad happens to President Clinton? No, I really don’t,” he said. “He’s been through a lot. The country’s been through a lot. Let’s heal, and forget.”

His defeat by Clinton was painful, but he got over it, he said.

“I didn’t like losing to Bill Clinton, [but] I wasn’t bitter. I was more hurt, and felt I let a lot of people down. But it goes away. Time heals things.”

And now?

He expects to take another jump out of an airplane, his third, in 2004, when he is 80. He also expects to retain his seat at the head of the Bush family table--regardless of his son’s new stature.

“If they took a vote, there’d be four in the family voting for me, and one for George,” he said. “Dorothy would vote for me, Neal, Marvin, Jeb--and George would resume his regular place in the middle of the table.”

And, finally, he looks forward to continuing to savor his children’s achievements.

“We’re in a flower of our life. It’s far better than anything that’s ever happened to me before. And I’ve had a wonderful life.”