President Forgoes the Limelight During Subdued Sojourn in Florida

Having kissed his wife goodby at the steps of Air Force One, President Bush returned to Washington Sunday after a five-day fishing and golfing vacation while First Lady Barbara Bush flew to Houston to begin looking for a home for the President and herself.

The President stayed mostly out of sight throughout the post-election trip, forgoing the frequent forays into the limelight that marked his previous recreational breaks from the White House over the last four years.

Amid conflicting reports about how the President is dealing with his loss to President-elect Bill Clinton, and how he is adjusting to his lame-duck status, Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater said published suggestions that Bush was in a state of despair were “crazy.”

“We were all disappointed a few days after the election because we fought long and hard, but he’s had plenty of time to start thinking about the future,” Fitzwater said. “The President’s in good spirits and looking forward to life after this.”

Asked whether Bush was traumatized by the defeat, Fitzwater said: “No, I don’t think so. You know, when you fight hard, it’s like a football game, really. You put everything into it, you fight hard for six or eight months, you think you’re going to win. It’s your whole life. It takes a day or two to turn around.”

“By this time, everybody’s in good shape and we’re ready to find other pursuits. I’m sure the President’s in the same boat,” he said.

Among the first of the personal tasks facing the President is figuring out where he will live when he leaves Washington on Jan. 20, 1993. His home in Kennebunkport, Me., is not fully winterized, and he has spent much of his adult life--apart from his time in Washington--in Houston.

Throughout his presidency, his “home” in Houston was a rented suite in the Houstonian Hotel, and his official residence was a narrow, vacant lot not well suited for building. Thus, it fell to his wife to begin checking out properties lined up by friends in Houston as potential winter homes.

Each day here was taken up by a routine: out of bed early--perhaps not as early as his normal 5 or 5:30 wake-up call at the White House, but up with the sun nevertheless--and then into the pattern of a Kennebunkport vacation--golf, fishing, more golf, tennis, more fishing and yet more golf.

The President brought along two of his favorite recreation partners--National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft and Ken Raynor, the golf pro at the Cape Arundel Country Club in Kennebunkport. Both are frequent golfing companions of the President and occasionally join him, as they did last week, on his fishing expeditions.

Still, there was none of the frenzy of activity so typical of the 68-year-old President. Nor was there any running banter with reporters, tourists or anyone else with whom he crossed paths, as Bush offered the country a portrait of a somewhat detached--and thoroughly defeated--chief executive trying to recover from the bone-numbing weariness of his losing reelection campaign.