Bush Image Strictly Business for 1st Day Back on the Job

No fun, no games.

For President Bush, the image for the first day back from the hospital was that of a chief executive hard at work: doing the nation’s business and not fooling around with his heart.

“I feel all right. I’ve just got to get over and get back to work,” Bush told reporters as he left Bethesda Naval Medical Center. Later, after Bush was greeted by cheering aides at the White House, his image-makers allowed television cameramen to peer in through the windows of the Oval Office to show the President at his desk, conferring with Vice President Dan Quayle--sending a clear message to anxious Americans that Bush was back where he belongs and that Quayle was, too.

Perhaps one day soon, Bush will return to his usual round of vigorous exercise, maybe even jogging, aides and his doctors said. For now, however, he was sticking to business.

A wide white bandage on his wrist and an occasional look of fatigue were the only reminders during the day that Bush is a President with an illness. The bandage held in place a shunt for insertion of an intravenous needle which was taken out later in the day, White House officials said.

Aides insisted they were making no effort to alter Bush’s schedule to heighten the image of a vigorous President because with Bush they do not need to. “This President is visible and accessible,” said one aide. “You don’t need to take any extra steps.”

But the White House has virtually unlimited discretion over which aspects of the President’s day to schedule, which to publicize and which--such as the portable heart monitor now being kept outside Bush’s office--to hide quietly in the background. Because of that, Bush has tremendous ability to be seen as he wishes to be seen. And Monday the desired image was clear.

“It’s business as usual,” said David Beckwith, press secretary for Quayle.

“It’s business as usual,” said a second White House official, repeating the phrase three times in a five-minute interview.

The usual business began with Bush’s departure from Bethesda at 9 a.m. Twenty minutes later, his motorcade arrived at the White House south driveway, and Bush, wearing a dark business suit and walking normally, strode through a light drizzle to the Oval Office as 150 White House workers stood in the adjacent Rose Garden and cheered.

“Back to work, back to work,” Bush said as he walked toward his desk.

On the way, the President stopped and, in response to a reporter’s question, addressed the political problem that his medical condition has caused. As Quayle waited inside, Bush said the vice president “has my full support, always has. He’s doing a first-class job.”

Quayle, for his part, has tried hard to keep a relaxed profile, avoiding the drastic mistake made by then-Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr., who went on camera and declared “I’m in charge” after President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981.

Much as Bush did during Reagan’s incapacitation, Quayle has avoided any suggestion that he was trying to garner publicity and has, instead, played the traditional vice presidential role of the loyal soldier.

Monday found him at the State Department, rallying a business group to support Bush’s “fast track” international trade proposals on Capitol Hill. While there, he joked about discussing with Bush the recent no-hit game by veteran pitcher Nolan Ryan.

“I love it when I hear the media describe someone 44 years of age as mature and well-seasoned,” the 44-year-old Quayle quipped.

Bush aides insisted, again, that the President was giving no consideration to dropping Quayle from the 1992 Republican ticket. “The President said that early on in the Administration, has made that commitment over and over again. There’s no change in that whatsoever,” White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said.

Bush, meanwhile, had two more chances to be photographed at work in the Oval Office: once in a meeting with Eduard A. Shevardnadze, the former Soviet foreign minister, the second time with former Sen. Rudy Boschwitz of Minnesota, recently returned from serving as a special Administration envoy to Ethiopia.

“This is the first shot they’ve had at me since I got out of the hospital,” Bush told Shevardnadze as reporters quizzed him about his condition. “I’m just glad to be here.”