Pranks Just Roll Off an Elated Bush

Proclaiming his first week at the White House “great,” President Bush said Friday that he was settling in well and brushed off a spate of farewell pranks by the staff of former President Clinton.

“It’s been a great week,” Bush told reporters. “I’m excited about my job.”

Bush refused to make disparaging remarks about his predecessor or the last White House staff when he was asked about farewell pranks and some vandalism at the White House.

“I’m so happy to be here that I’m looking forward,” he said after a pause when asked whether he was offended.

“There might have been a prank or two, maybe somebody put a cartoon on the wall, but that’s OK. It’s time now to move forward. Time to focus our attention on what’s possible.”

Bush had a busy day, with the swearing-in of two Cabinet officers and meetings with governors and some first-term lawmakers.

After Vice President Dick Cheney swore in Colin L. Powell to be the 65th secretary of State, Bush said the U.S. will “work closely” with its allies.

Powell, who once served as the top U.S. military commander, has said the Bush administration will remain engaged worldwide, while signaling that any commitment of troops abroad will be done cautiously.

The new secretary has also told State Department employees that he’s begun lobbying for extra funding, and he said diplomats should expect some policy changes. He hasn’t said what they will be.

The swearing-in of Powell was followed by a similar ceremony for Donald H. Rumsfeld as secretary of Defense.

The president said he intends to proceed with plans for building a nationwide missile defense, despite Russian objections, and for reducing the number of U.S. nuclear weapons.

“My point is I want America to lead the world toward a more safe world when it comes to nuclear weaponry,” Bush said. “On the offensive side we can do so, and we can do so on the defensive side as well.”

Rumsfeld said that, although it was too early to discuss details of how the administration will proceed with the development of a national missile defense, “the president has not been ambivalent about this. He intends to deploy a missile defense capability for the country.”

Asked whether a decision would be made within the next few months on deploying such a system, Rumsfeld said, “I don’t want to put a time limit on myself.”

The Clinton administration had pursued development of such a system to protect all 50 states, but Clinton decided late last summer that the technology was not sufficiently mature to make a firm commitment to deploy it. Clinton also said more time was needed to address the strong objections of Russia and China, as well as the misgivings of many of America’s European allies.

During the campaign, Bush said that, if elected, he would make missile defense a priority and deploy it even if it meant abandoning the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty that prohibits nationwide missile defenses.

In Moscow on Friday, President Vladimir V. Putin spoke out against missile defenses and said Russia expects the United States to adhere to the ABM treaty. Putin has warned that Russia will scrap all existing arms control agreements if Washington backs out of the treaty. He did not repeat that warning Friday, but he said “Russia is actively working with our partners” and “counts on joint work” to preserve the ABM treaty.

Bush, who ran his election on a vow to end partisan rancor in Washington, has made a big push in his first days in office to reach out to politicians from both sides of the aisle.

In the first week, he met with 90 lawmakers, including 29 Democrats, and he plans to continue the effort next week, aides said.

“The biggest, most pleasant surprise, if you’d call it that, is how receptive members of Congress are to come here to the White House to talk about how we can work together,” Bush told reporters gathered in the Roosevelt Room after he met with the governors to talk about his plans for education reform.

Bush told a group of first-year lawmakers Friday that he had come to Washington with a “positive spirit of the possible” and that he did not want to let any bitterness lingering from the drawn-out election inhibit his administration.

“Some people take a look at the election and say, ‘Well, gosh, the country is too divided, nothing will happen,’ ” he said. “Our mission is to prove them wrong. It’s to not only restore faith in government by results, positive results for the people, but also to restore faith in government by how we behave, by how we conduct the people’s business.”

Bush’s chief of staff, Andrew H. Card Jr., already has ordered White House staff to respect their new place of work and to dress appropriately, in particular when they enter the Oval Office.

Bush, who prefers the casual to the formal, said he was settling in well, and he reported that his pets have grown accustomed to their new surroundings.

“The best news is the dogs seemed to have adjusted,” said Bush, who walks his two dogs around the White House grounds.

“The cat that was howling on the first night is now more comfortable with her territory, so she’s sleeping through the night.”

The president said it was a “huge honor to live in the people’s house. I understand the honor and I’m going to uphold the honor.”