Bush Hangs Up the ‘Gone Fishing’ Sign

The President-elect of the United States, halfway through a four-day sun-splashed vacation here, was having enough trouble fishing. He was not about to tackle the stock market.

So as he continued to accentuate relaxation and play down world affairs, it became known Saturday that Vice President George Bush was casting for whiting and pompano with live shrimp bait. But as for the 47-point drop in the Dow Jones average Friday and the sharp decline in the dollar?

“He didn’t have anything to say,” said Bush spokesman Stephen Hart, briefing reporters about the vice president’s activities.

” . . . We won’t have anything to say about the market and the dollar fluctuations. . . . He’s on vacation right now. Can I move back to the fishing?”

So, where was Bush in the languorous days after his successful campaign for President?

The man who spent the last fruitful weeks of his successful campaign championing the middle-class was ensconced here in a 2-acre oceanfront estate, sunning himself, golfing, surf casting and gearing up for the 68 days remaining before he drops the “elect” from his title and becomes simply: The President.

For Bush, 64, it has been a relatively calm, uninterrupted foray, given that he is simultaneously the sitting vice president and the President-elect.

He has been sighted by photographers who paced the beaches long distances from Bush’s hide- away, but his words have been so rare that reporters waiting for any whiff of news dutifully scribbled down the words of an Associated Press reporter who ran into Bush--literally--while jogging.

“He’s in really good shape,” reported Rita Beamish, whom Bush invited for a brief swim after their meeting Friday afternoon.

“He has really good legs for his age.”

The vice president’s day Saturday was remarkably similar to Friday, his first full day away from the campaign and the hubbub of Washington. He fished. He lounged near the pool, took congratulatory calls and wrote thank-you notes. He took a nap. He fished again. He golfed.

On the business side, Bush also talked briefly on Saturday with Craig Fuller, his chief of staff and a co-director of his presidential transition.

Hart described the talk as “a brief status report on the transition.” No details were released.

Fuller and his co-director, Robert Teeter, the campaign’s chief strategist and pollster, were said this weekend to be working on procedural details and mulling over names for the 5,000 jobs available for the new President to fill come Jan. 20.

Bush said Friday that no personnel decisions would be made until he returns to Washington, a move tentatively set for Tuesday.

Bush has appeared effervescent during his brief vacation, variously describing it as “great . . . fantastic . . . perfect” in tones that beg for an exclamation point. The community in which he is staying, however, seeks just the opposite, understating its elegance.

Here in Gulf Stream, even the Police Department fronts on a golf course. The Fire Department and Town Hall back up to a fairway.

According to a neighboring newspaper, the Palm Beach Post, 40% of Gulf Stream’s 540 acres are golf courses. Two golf courses, one tennis club and a private school are the only businesses.

Fits Demographic Pattern

And the town fits neatly into the demographic pattern of Bush’s own campaign, which he spent almost exclusively in upper-class, white neighborhoods.

According to the Post, 81% of the 520 residents in Gulf Stream are Republicans, even if the long-time mayor is a Democrat.

Bush has spent his vacation at the sunny yellow home of his longtime friends Will and Sarah Farish. Farish, an investment banker, controls Bush assets held in a blind trust and regularly hosts the vice president at his Texas ranch.

The Farishes’ new Florida home, into which they moved only a month ago, is like most on the spit of land that makes up Gulf Stream: unobtrusive.

Those who drive by at moderate speeds--which is as slow as the local, ever-prodding police will allow during Bush’s stay--can see only a glimpse of the house, hidden behind shrubs and sea pines.

The house abuts one golf course and sits across the street from another, offering the Bushes ample room for their pursuits. George Bush has spent part of each day running along a golf course, while his wife, Barbara, took a long walk along a course Saturday morning.

While the Bushes have yet to move into the White House, they already enjoy some of the perquisites of the presidency.

They traveled to Florida in the Air Force jet usually used by Nancy Reagan, decked out now with pictures of the Bushes. The plane, Aircraft 26000, was the same jet that carried President John F. Kennedy to Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963--and carried him back to a mournful Washington in the twilight of that same day.

In a wistful exchange with reporters, Barbara Bush also alluded to the changes the couple have already seen.

“I’ll tell you about the perks,” she said sarcastically. She said she had tried to go for a walk in Houston Wednesday morning--only to discover that the Secret Service blocked off for her an entire public park.

“I’ll never walk in a public park again,” said Barbara Bush, an avid walker. “I’m broken-hearted.”