Bush Drives Home the ‘Home’ Theme

Taking a break from his summer vacation to welcome back children from theirs, President Bush told pupils Wednesday to turn off the television and read a book.

Later, the president cut the ribbon at a new Hispano Chamber of Commerce job center, targeting a constituent group his administration hopes will help solidify his support base, especially in a state Bush lost by 366 votes in November’s presidential election.

The two stops reflected the inherently political nature of the president’s monthlong absence from Washington, which aides have dubbed his “home to the heartland tour.”

Indeed, Bush grimaced when several students shouted in unison, “Washington,” when he asked them where he was from.

“I am from one state east of here,” he said. “I grew up in Texas.”

Speaking to about 200 students, parents, state and city officials and educators in a gymnasium at the Griegos Elementary School, Bush said, “Good education starts in the living rooms of the citizens of this country. It starts with a mom or a dad saying, ‘You turn off the TV and practice reading.’ . . . That’s where is starts.”

The president added: “I know that’s hard. After all, Laura and I raised twins, and they struggled to get that TV on.”

New Mexico is the 35th state Bush has visited in his seven months as president. Colorado, where he spent Tuesday, was the 34th.

Stops both days reflected the White House’s effort to project an image of a president ever at work, even during a vacation that coincides with Congress’ August break. Even before the trip began, administration officials had begun setting up presidential speeches or other public events each week of the month, building them around the friendly imagery of a president talking to America, often in a down-home setting, about values and character.

Bush’s visit to the school fit easily into that theme. “Reading is the new civil right,” he said. “Reading is the capacity for some child whose parents may not speak English as a first language to be able to succeed in America.”

Returning to a theme of his presidential campaign, Bush said reading is the key to college education and, “in this great country, we expect every child, regardless of how he or she is raised, to go to college.”

“I want you to understand, I said every child. I didn’t say just a handful of children. I didn’t say only those whose parents make a certain income. I mean every single child.”

In a second-grade classroom, the president read from his favorite children’s book, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” a staple in Bush’s school appearances.

During a question-and-answer session, a pupil asked Bush whether he had been a good student in the fifth grade. “In fifth grade?” Bush asked. “I’m glad you qualified that for fifth grade. Yes, I was a good student in fifth grade.”

Bush chose Griegos Elementary at the recommendation of Rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.). The state rated it “exemplary” last year on the basis of test scores and attendance. About 70% of the students are Latino, and about one-third of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunches.

Speaking at the Chamber of Commerce job center in a heavily Latino district, Bush denounced congressional efforts to restrict Mexican trucks on U.S. highways.

“I believe strongly we can have safety on our highways without discriminating against our neighbors to the south. To the protectionists and isolationists, I say if Mexican trucks, if United States trucks and Canadian trucks are allowed to move freely on our highways . . . it will help prosperity spread its roots throughout our neighborhood.”

Wednesday night, Bush went to his second political fund-raiser in two days, this one for the reelection campaign of Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.).