Young Minds Want to Know, Mr. Bush

They hurled one probing question after another at the president of the United States.

Did you ever get mad at Al Gore during the campaign? (Not really.)

How old are you? (The old speed limit: 55.)

Are you looking forward to becoming ex-president? (No.)

What do you do all day? (More on that later.)

The White House press corps grilling George W. Bush?

Hardly.

Meet the inquisitive children of Crawford Elementary School.

With beguiling directness, they served up a rare kaleidoscopic peek into the mind of America’s 43rd president Thursday as he dropped by to thank the school for putting up with the unruly White House press corps, which has taken over the gymnasium for its work space and much of its parking lot during Bush’s monthlong vacation at his nearby ranch.

The president eventually took some questions from the journalists, touching on weighty matters like the budget and missile defense. But by a long shot it was the children’s queries that provoked the most interesting responses.

Today the professionals get another chance. Bush has scheduled a morning news conference to discuss defense matters and to announce his nominee for chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, expected to be Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, now vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

During his encounter with the students, after an early-morning round of golf, Bush also revealed that it’s “a pretty fast life I’m living these days” and recalled the “pretty pressure-packed” days leading up to his inauguration, which evoked in him “a lot of mixed emotions.”

In his opening remarks, the president strongly promoted reading over watching television. Later he told reporters that he “probably” would not watch Rep. Gary A. Condit (D-Ceres) speak Thursday night on national TV about his relationship with missing intern Chandra Levy.

“I’m not going to discuss Congressman Condit,” he said. “Evidently, he’s making a statement to the nation tonight, and let’s just see what he says.”

Reading has long had a champion in First Lady Laura Bush, but the president demonstrated Thursday that reading also is a pet cause of his.

“You need to read more than you watch TV,” he told the students. “Because when you get to be a good reader, and I know you will be, it makes learning so much easier. And then when you learn a lot of things, it helps you realize your dreams.”

Bush also touched on values and personal responsibility--themes that he intends to emphasize in the months ahead.

“As you grow up, you’ve got to learn to say yes to the good things and no to the bad things--like saying no to drugs. That’s going to be important in order to realize your dreams. No to alcohol, excessive alcohol. You’ve got to learn to make the right choices when you get older,” he said.

Asked “what is it like being president,” Bush replied:

“Well, it’s a great honor being president. It’s one of these jobs where you can help people help themselves. It’s a job that requires an understanding of where you want to lead. You’ve got to know who you are and where you want to lead the nation, which means you have to know what you believe in. And I believe in family and I believe in faith and I believe in personal responsibility, and I believe that we ought to trust local people to make the decisions for schools and their cities and counties.”

In all, the president fielded 25 questions from the students (and 11 from the press). The one that elicited the longest answer pertained to his daily activities, and Bush began his response by describing his plans for the rest of the day.

The agenda included a briefing with Condoleezza Rice, his national security advisor, a phone conversation with Argentina President Fernando de la Rua to discuss current efforts to bolster that nation’s economy, lunch with Mrs. Bush, and an hourlong conference call with top White House personnel officials to discuss new hires in his administration.

In addition, Bush revealed: “We’ve got a horticulturist coming out from Texas A&M; to help us identify the hardwood trees on our beautiful place. We’ve got about 12 or 13 different types of hardwoods out there. So he is going to educate us about the land. So I’ve got a lot going on today.”

Bush showed his sensitivity to a perception among some that a monthlong “working vacation” might be excessive for someone who has been on the job barely six months.

“See, the thing about the president is, you’re always the president and there’s always an issue, and somebody is always calling and somebody needs to visit and somebody is flying into town to come by to sit down and talk about [a] variety of issues. And so it’s just like I moved my office from the Oval Office right out here to Crawford, and I’m glad I did. I love being here.”

As for Gore, Bush said he harbored no personal animus toward the former vice president.

“One of the things in politics you learn is you can’t get mad at people,” he said. Later, White House aide Karen P. Hughes said that Bush did get mad at some of the things that Gore said during the campaign, but not at him personally.

Asked whether his family members travel much with him, Bush ended his reply with a rare public mention of his 19-year-old twin daughters, who have had recent brushes with Austin, Texas, police over underage drinking.

“They’re both independent little girls right now and they’re both in college, and that’s good,” the president said.

Although Bush consulted widely and deliberated for months before recently announcing his decision on federal funding for stem cell research, he told students that making presidential decisions is “not really” difficult.

“If you know what you believe, decisions come pretty easy. If you’re one of these types of people that are always trying to figure out which way the wind is blowing, decision making can be difficult. But I find that I know who I am. I know what I believe in, and I know where I want to lead the country. And most of the decisions come pretty easily for me, to be frank with you,” the president said.

“I realize sometimes people don’t like the decisions. That’s OK. I’ve never been one to try to please everybody all the time. I just do what I think is right. The good thing about democracy, if people like the decisions you make, they let you stay. If they don’t, they’ll send me back to Crawford. Isn’t all that bad a deal, by the way.”