The Presidency

By Hugh Sidey

George Bush is sitting in the sun outside his office, face turned to gather the rays. Sheltering holly bushes rustle in the light breeze; birds sound and flit; big power lurks behind the tulips. "I feel very comfortable in the presidency," he says, hands behind his head, which is tilted back, eyes closed. "We're not geared up to have anything accomplished in 90 days or 100 days or any other period of time. But . . . things have happened in the first three months."

He ticks them off: the savings and loan agreement, the Third World debt plan, "the contra thing," the budget deal. "We're going to have some big fights with a few," Bush continues. "I can't say we've solved every problem we intended to solve, but enough big things have taken form and shape." What's it like to be President? "Well, I have a sense of assurance."

Comfortable, indeed. He may be the President, but he is still tip-to-top Bush. His brown shoes (accompanying a gray pinstripe suit) are cracked and polished almost orange. Boola boola. His wide, worn black leather belt swaths a trim middle. True blue. He wears a necktie with dozens of zebras frolicking on a field of red. "It's kind of a preservation, preserve-the-zebra tie." What happened to the Yale bulldogs? One West Coast story had suggested that Bush's hair is darkening and thickening, hinting that Ronald Reagan's tonsorial impresario, Milton Pitts, was creating another masterpiece. But as the President is quick to point out, it is actually thinning and graying.

Bush is President, but with a trace yet of awe. He muses, transporting his mind inside the White House for the moment. "This desk set has been created by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and this picture of Lincoln depicts the ending of the Civil War. I'm not a great historian at all, but when you're there, you're kind of overwhelmed by a sense of history of this country, and the greatness."

What is his mark to be left on the big building looming up beside him? "That we did help make things a little kinder and gentler, helped keep the Government from being anything other than the servant of the people, helped enhance the peace." Comes a sudden surge of enthusiasm through the soft spring air. "Great challenge in Eastern Europe. I'm fascinated with the changes in Poland and Hungary. I read the Soviet reaction to my speech ((in Hamtramck, Mich., last week)). Eight years ago, they would have been speaking with one voice, blasting us. Today they are speaking with multivoices, most of them blessing us, but not all. So you've got to look at these changes and try to figure out how to handle them and keep it moving, keep things going. Just be sure people know what the United States stands for.

"We've got one very, very outstanding member of Congress urging me to move with Cuba, and I'm saying to myself, 'Look, it would be wonderful to be able to solve the Cuban problem vis-a-vis the United States, but there's a lot at stake. You've got to make clear ((Cuba's)) got to make certain changes.' So it's wanting to do things, but tempering the desire by reality. You can't just go dramatically off on some initiative all the time."

How would he classify his style of leadership? "Well," Bush says, "I hope I'm a good delegator, but I also like to use this." He bangs a white telephone that sits at his elbow. "It never occurred to me the other day to ask somebody whether it would be O.K. to call Admiral Yost when he was up on the environmental cleanup in Alaska. 'Just get Paul Yost, get Admiral Yost for me.' I don't want to be cut off from the context. I have to know so I understand the passions out there -- environmental passions, energy passions, cleanup, conservation, protect the fisheries. I'm using Alaska as an example. And it's true of everything else."