Is George Bush Now an Ex-President?

Although the White House feebly denied it, the 25th Amendment was invoked as a means of transferring power when President Reagan underwent surgery for the removal of a cancerous tumor. In spite of the denials, to the delight of most Americans the process worked smoothly and effectively.

While the amendment proved itself during the Watergate crisis, and again last month as an excellent means of spelling out presidential succession, it may contain a serious flaw in failing to clearly define the role of the vice president after he is handed the reins of government by a President so incapacitated he is unable to serve.

In this case as soon as Reagan regained consciousness he forthwith reclaimed his title as chief executive, and Vice President Bush was again relegated to his former position as VP. But a thorny question has seemingly been overlooked: Is George Bush now an ex-President?

The language of the 25th Amendment is singularly silent when it comes to informing us of the previous status held by the vice president when he again becomes the second banana. Certainly it could be argued that the VP was indeed President when Reagan was under the knife, having vested in him the full and awesome powers of the presidency. The fact that this all happened on a quiet Saturday is totally irrelevant. It is certainly conceivable that a domestic or foreign crisis could have arisen in those fateful hours, making it mandatory that the “acting” President take measures that may have had dire results.

Therefore, if George Bush is an “ex-President” isn’t he entitled to the same red carpet treatment that we afford our other living ex-Presidents? After his retirement, shouldn’t he receive the generous pension, the office and staff, Secret Service protection, and the other perks that go with the office?

Wouldn’t it be reasonable for Bush to point out as he campaigns for a full four-year term as President in 1988 that he has already had experience in the office, much to the chagrin of other aspirants for the exalted Oval Office.

All this does not mean to imply that Bush will not attain the presidency on his own merits--his competition being in Disraeli’s phrase a landscape of “exhausted volcanoes”--but I think the question transcends Reagan or Bush and should be studied by the great constitutional scholars.

PETE TORGE

Hollywood