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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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time
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050189
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05018900.039
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1990-09-17
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NATION, Page 35The Presidency"A Sense of Assurance"By Hugh Sidey
George Bush is sitting in the sun outside his office, face
turned to gather the rays. Sheltering holly bushes rustle in the
light breeze; birds sound and flit; big power lurks behind the
tulips. "I feel very comfortable in the presidency," he says, hands
behind his head, which is tilted back, eyes closed. "We're not
geared up to have anything accomplished in 90 days or 100 days or
any other period of time. But . . . things have happened in the
first three months."
He ticks them off: the savings and loan agreement, the Third
World debt plan, "the contra thing," the budget deal. "We're going
to have some big fights with a few," Bush continues. "I can't say
we've solved every problem we intended to solve, but enough big
things have taken form and shape." What's it like to be President?
"Well, I have a sense of assurance."
Comfortable, indeed. He may be the President, but he is still
tip-to-top Bush. His brown shoes (accompanying a gray pinstripe
suit) are cracked and polished almost orange. Boola boola. His
wide, worn black leather belt swaths a trim middle. True blue. He
wears a necktie with dozens of zebras frolicking on a field of red.
"It's kind of a preservation, preserve-the-zebra tie." What
happened to the Yale bulldogs? One West Coast story had suggested
that Bush's hair is darkening and thickening, hinting that Ronald
Reagan's tonsorial impresario, Milton Pitts, was creating another
masterpiece. But as the President is quick to point out, it is
actually thinning and graying.
Bush is President, but with a trace yet of awe. He muses,
transporting his mind inside the White House for the moment. "This
desk set has been created by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and this
picture of Lincoln depicts the ending of the Civil War. I'm not a
great historian at all, but when you're there, you're kind of
overwhelmed by a sense of history of this country, and the
greatness."
What is his mark to be left on the big building looming up
beside him? ``That we did help make things a little kinder and
gentler, helped keep the Government from being anything other than
the servant of the people, helped enhance the peace." Comes a
sudden surge of enthusiasm through the soft spring air. "Great
challenge in Eastern Europe. I'm fascinated with the changes in
Poland and Hungary. I read the Soviet reaction to my speech (in
Hamtramck, Mich., last week). Eight years ago, they would have been
speaking with one voice, blasting us. Today they are speaking with
multivoices, most of them blessing us, but not all. So you've got
to look at these changes and try to figure out how to handle them
and keep it moving, keep things going. Just be sure people know
what the United States stands for.
"We've got one very, very outstanding member of Congress urging
me to move with Cuba, and I'm saying to myself, `Look, it would be
wonderful to be able to solve the Cuban problem vis-a-vis the
United States, but there's a lot at stake. You've got to make clear
(Cuba's) got to make certain changes.' So it's wanting to do
things, but tempering the desire by reality. You can't just go
dramatically off on some initiative all the time."
How would he classify his style of leadership? "Well," Bush
says, "I hope I'm a good delegator, but I also like to use this."
He bangs a white telephone that sits at his elbow. "It never
occurred to me the other day to ask somebody whether it would be
O.K. to call Admiral Yost when he was up on the environmental
cleanup in Alaska. `Just get Paul Yost, get Admiral Yost for me.'
I don't want to be cut off from the context. I have to know so I
understand the passions out there -- environmental passions, energy
passions, cleanup, conservation, protect the fisheries. I'm using
Alaska as an example. And it's true of everything else."