Bush’s Big Plans: A Sedate New Year’s at the Ranch

Come New Year’s Eve throughout much of the 1980s, Ronald Reagan could be found in a tuxedo, toasting the holiday at Sunnylands, the Rancho Mirage estate of publisher and ambassador Walter H. Annenberg, with the society set.

In the mid-1990s, Bill Clinton greeted the New Year by dressing down and kicking around the latest in policy proposals with the intelligentsia at the annual Renaissance weekends in Hilton Head, S.C.

But when she was first lady, Barbara Bush said that, as New Year’s Eve neared, her husband, the 41st president, would be found in bed well before midnight.

Like father, like son. The 43rd president, once the stereotypical party animal, planned to greet the new year at home with old friends from Lubbock, Texas. Dinner would be beef tenderloin, potatoes and pumpkin and pecan pie, First Lady Laura Bush said.

And, she added, she and the president plan to go for a sunrise walk today on their ranch -- presumably after a full night’s sleep.

*

Bush bought his 1,600-acre Prairie Chapel Ranch, about six miles outside Crawford, while he was running for president, and he didn’t move into the house he built until shortly before his inauguration.

There have been some changes in this whistle-stop town since he arrived. In the last year, for instance, construction has begun on a bank. Not many of the 700 or so residents here can remember when the town actually had a bank; one resident thought it had closed in the 1930s.

Bill Sparkman Jr., who’s been cutting hair here for almost 40 years, has decided to retire, taking with him, in all likelihood, one of the last bastions of $5 haircuts and $2 shaves. The prices are posted on a hand-scrawled sign.

The old elementary school closed. A new one opened. Another souvenir stand -- the eighth -- opened on Main Street, but not before a very old cottonwood tree, a town landmark, was cut down, prompting serious grumbling from the locals.

But in the secondhand shop, the chrome-and-Formica kitchen table, a 1950s relic that was for sale at the start of the year, remains on display. And there still is no grocery store.

*

Crawford is not a party town.

And the president is not a townie.

In his 11 visits to the ranch last year, covering about 10 weeks’ time, he made only three trips into town -- not counting a drive-by on his way to a golf course near Waco, about 25 miles distant.

In August, he spent about an hour at the community center, thanking local volunteers who assist White House staffers during his visits here.

In November, on election day, he showed up soon after sunrise to vote.

And on Tuesday, he had lunch at the Coffee Station, the town’s only restaurant/filling station. It has become a draw for tourists hoping to encounter the president. On Tuesday, among the 40 people in the room when Bush arrived were two couples from Dallas and a family from North Carolina.

Bush and his wife were accompanied by their ranch foreman, Kenny Englebrecht; Mike and Nancy Weiss, the visiting friends from Lubbock; and several aides, including his deputy national security advisor and a deputy chief of staff.

Before he set foot in the building, the Secret Service had already swept through. There are few secrets here, and a crowd had gathered well before Bush was driven up in a Chevy Suburban.

Bush joined a cryptic conversation taking place at one end of the table. The words “points,” “marks” and “minimum bids” were batted around as easily as people in Washington might sling around talk of “subcommittee mark-ups.” He drank from a Styrofoam cup.

The president wore muddy boots, jeans, a denim shirt and a work jacket with a plaid lining. His outfit was set off by a Lone Star belt buckle.

He had entered the world of ranchers. For a moment, he was a townie.

*

As 2002 was arriving, Bush had said his New Year’s resolution was to “eat fewer cheeseburgers.” So the question as he strode toward the front door for his lunch was this: Did he succeed?

“Yes,” he said, “to the extent I’m comfortable having a cheeseburger today.”

With that, he headed into the restaurant. It was his first visit there since he made a similar visit -- one year ago, nearly to the minute -- and ordered a cheeseburger.