Relaxed, jovial Bush steals the show
WASHINGTON – It’s Barack Obama’s house now, but his predecessor and political foil, George W. Bush, stole the show at the White House on Thursday with his wisecracks and grin.
“Thank you so much for inviting our rowdy friends to my hanging,” the former president said, referring to members of his family and former staff, invited back to the executive mansion for the unveiling of his and Laura Bush’s official portraits. “Behave yourselves,” he jokingly admonished his crowd.
Bush told the current president he was pleased to know “that when you are wandering these halls as you wrestle with tough decisions, you will now be able to gaze at this portrait and ask, ‘What would George do?’ ”
Free from the stress of the presidency and after three years spent largely out of the spotlight, a relaxed and jovial Bush came back with his father, former President George H.W. Bush, for a rare gathering of three commanders in chief. Former first lady Barbara Bush was there, too, as were George W. and Laura’s daughters, Jenna and Barbara.
While Bush, Obama and their wives spoke about the warmth between their families, there was little of that on display between the two presidents. They traded handshakes but no hugs. There was little casual small talk as they entered and exited the East Room or as they stood on stage together.
“We may have our differences politically, but the presidency transcends those differences,” Obama said.
That the relationship between Obama and Bush is cordial but not close is hardly a surprise.
Obama is still bad-mouthing Bush’s time in office, blaming him for the economic crisis, the soaring federal debt and the unfinished wars the Democrat inherited from his Republican predecessor. And in the midst of an election season, Obama is trying to lump the economic policies of his current Republican rival, Mitt Romney, in with Bush’s.
Standing side by side in the grand, chandeliered East Room, Obama was mostly formal and subdued while Bush was lighthearted and engaging, relishing in the warm greetings from veterans of his two terms in office.
The former president turned emotional as he spoke of his own portrait hanging near his father’s – “No. 41” as he called him. On the verge of tears, the younger Bush thanked his father, who attended the ceremony in a wheelchair, for “the greatest gift possible, unconditional love.”
More than any other president in recent memory, Bush has not just intentionally faded from the public spotlight but all but disappeared from it. He wrote his own remarks for Thursday’s event, as he no longer employs a speechwriter.
Obama recalled one of the most memorable moments of Bush’s presidency from the days following the Sept. 11 attacks: “All of us will always remember the image of President Bush standing on that pile of rubble, bullhorn in hand, conveying extraordinary strength and resolve to the American people but also representing the strength and resolve of the American people.”
Turning lighthearted himself, Obama also told Bush, “You left me a really good TV sports package. … I use it.”