Bush Praises Gorbachev’s Advice to Polish Communists as ‘Positive’

President Bush said today that Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s reported counsel to Poland’s Communists to take part in the new government there was “very positive.”

Bush, in a question-and-answer session with reporters at his vacation home, said that although many changes are taking place in Poland, “there will be bumps in the road as these countries move toward more democracy.”

“I thought the comment I saw attributed to Mr. Gorbachev was very positive in this regard,” he said.

The President was referring to reports that Gorbachev had called Poland’s Communist leaders and apparently urged them to back away from their hard line against participating in a government led by the Solidarity independent trade union movement.

Asked about the situation in Colombia, where President Virgilio Barco Vargas is engaged in a crackdown on drug lords who have carried out a wave of assassinations, Bush said: “I have great respect for what President Barco is trying to do. I am convinced he is determined to whip the problem, to beat it.”

And he said the process of extraditing drug-trafficking suspects to the United States for trial “should go forward.”

Regarding the possibility of sending U.S. troops to help Colombia fight drug cartels, Bush said “that whole question of troop speculation, I think, got out of whack.” Officials have said that there are no plans to send troops and that Barco does not want them.

Bush also said he has no problem with the French sending warships to the Mediterranean, although pro-Iranian militants holding American hostages in Lebanon have reacted threateningly to that move.

“The French have had a longstanding history in Lebanon. They have tried to be a catalyst for peace in Lebanon. . . . I am not about to criticize the French for what they are doing,” Bush said.

On the turmoil in Lebanon, he said: “I feel a certain frustration about Lebanon because we have not been able to be a catalyst for peace.” He said the United States remains available to “consult with individual parties” in the Middle East to try to resolve the nation’s civil war.

The President covered a wide range of subjects in his interview with Maine reporters and a small group of national traveling press corps.

He said First Lady Barbara Bush is fine after her eye examination in Washington on Tuesday. After the news conference, he took the reporters and camera crews to the tennis court on his property to see his wife playing a game of doubles tennis.

“Come on, let’s see the Silver Fox play tennis,” the President said, using his pet name for Mrs. Bush, as he led the entourage to the court.

Barbara Bush, grumbling about her tennis game, was asked how she felt. At first she blurted out jokingly that she was “just sick about” her game. She interrupted herself with a laugh and said, “No, I feel wonderful.”

The First Lady posed for the cameras cross-eyed in a gesture mocking the eye irritation that accompanies her Graves’ disease, a thyroid imbalance. Bush ran onto the court and laughingly told her, “Don’t do that!” as he put his hand over her eyes.

Feigning anger, she shouted back “You dirty dog.”