Bush at Play: All the Signs of a Marathon

The news from the summer White House is that George Bush vacations about the same way he works--no sitting still.

You call this relaxation?

Bush woke with the birds Sunday morning, dressing in dark-blue sweat pants and a gray and maroon sweat shirt in time for a 6:30 a.m. run. Then, after a shower, he changed into a clean blue shirt, navy blue blazer, blue tie and striped slacks to escort his mother and wife to church at 10.

By 11:30 he had changed again--this time into a swimming suit for a dive into the pool at the family’s Walkers Point compound. Then into tennis clothes for a few quick sets before hopping onto his boat for a short ride up the coast to grab a picnic lunch to eat while fishing.

And that was all by 1:40. After fishing for a little more than two hours, Bush, who celebrated his 65th birthday a few weeks ago, headed back to Walkers Point and rounded up some friends for a quick round of golf--nine holes in 48 minutes--at the local course, followed by a little more fishing at the pond nearby. Then, finally, he settled down to dinner with visiting children and grandchildren.

“Tired?” the cheerful President said to a slightly winded reporter. “We’re just beginning a five-day marathon.”

A Shock to Many

All of this comes as something of a shock to reporters who covered the Ronald Reagan White House. Reagan on vacation would disappear onto his Santa Barbara ranch and scarcely be seen for days. With Bush, by contrast, reporters sometimes see him so often that they have been known to change dinner plans to avoid running into him at favored Kennebunkport restaurants.

The frenetic pace seems to reflect Bush’s overall style--a general disinclination to simply sit in one place--that friends have noted for many years.

Not that this vacation is all fun and no work, mind you. The President has brought along his deputy national security adviser, Robert M. Gates, and a series of briefing books to help him prepare for the annual economic summit of Western leaders that begins next week in Paris. But the summit is just a sidelight. Mostly, the trip has been a chance for some high-intensity R&R.;

Avoids the Hassles

Being President, of course, Bush does not have to put up with some of the hassles that ruin other people’s rest and reduce their relaxation. Traffic, for example.

The trip from Washington to Kennebunkport is an excursion of five hours at minimum for those who must navigate through airports and utilize commercial airlines. Flying the presidential way--helicopter from the White House to Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, Air Force One to Pease Air Force Base in New Hampshire, then helicopter again from Pease to Walkers Point--the trip takes 1 hour and 50 minutes, door to door.

And within an hour of landing Friday, Bush was at play, piloting his blue and white cigarette boat, Fidelity, out into the placid waters of the Gulf of Maine.

Saturday saw the President jogging, boating and golfing, checking out a new extended-length putter that he proclaimed as “the most wonderful weapon ever invented.”

Then Sunday dawned and the President headed off for his run, accompanied by two aides, several Secret Service agents, his faithful dog Millie, daughter Dorothy and three reporters--one of whom dropped by the wayside about halfway through the 2.3-mile, 20-minute course.

Millie, by the way, has recovered from the insult heaped on her by a Washington magazine editor, who labelled her the city’s ugliest dog, the President told a reporter as the run ended. “Look at the spring in her step,” he said just before climbing into a waiting Secret Service van for the half-mile trip from his running path back home.

Church--St. Ann’s Episcopal, consecrated in 1892--is only about a half-mile in the other direction. Bush serves as a vestryman at St. Ann’s, and in quieter times could simply walk down for Sunday services. Now, however, presidential security requires a motorcade--14 cars, including two press vans, the Secret Service “war wagon,” Bush’s bulletproof limousine and an ambulance.

Reporters Kept in Dark

In a similar security precaution, White House aides try their best to guard advance word of Bush’s movements, not telling reporters following the President, for example, where they are going until the last minute.

Somehow, however, in a small town like this, word always seems to get around.

Sunday afternoon, Bush took his boat and headed to a dockside restaurant a few miles up the coast to grab a picnic of fried clams and lobster chowder. By the time he arrived, a crowd had gathered, ready to applaud as Bush, accompanied by his wife, Barbara, a Secret Service agent and a White House staff photographer, pulled up and tied the boat to the dock.

Heads Off for More Fun

The crowd then watched as the President waited for the restaurant staff to hand down the picnic in two brown paper bags and waved as the President headed off for more fun.

Today and Tuesday promise more of the same. Wednesday, Bush is scheduled to rise shortly after dawn and leave Walkers Point at 6:30 a.m. He plans to be in the Oval Office by 8:30, relaxed and ready for a full day’s work.