Savoring Victory, Family-Style

By Hugh Sidey

Former President George H.W. Bush was in the White House when the tally of his son's victory came through, and while he could feel the pride, his public demeanor was as controlled as it had been throughout the knife-edge campaign. "Our lives have never ended in the White House," he explained during the heat of the campaign's final days. "We don't live and die for the limelight or the head table or the plaque. George didn't think about losing, never discussed what it would be like to lose."

Now that another great victory is a reality, the issue of the Bush dynasty will surface again. "I am not trying to build a legacy," Bush insists. "I will leave that to the historians. If I get a good shake, then fine. If I don't, I'll be in heaven."

Well, it is not always that easy in the moment, and the former President knows it. He once sort of admitted it. "The bluefish are hitting hard out at Boone Island," he said this summer from the family compound in Kennebunkport, Maine. "The sea is essentially calm--the huge swells making it even more fun than a dead-calm sea. So, me worry? Well, well, let's see, yes, I do worry, darn it all."

Those outside the family, he continued, "do not, maybe cannot, understand what it is like for a father who wants to stand by his son, close up, cheering him on, arguing his case, being there for him if he gets down."

The deluge of unproven scandal, rumors and ridicule thrown at the Bush family was unprecedented by almost any count. George H.W. had a copy of Kitty Kelley's dubious family chronicle in his desk, and he did not read it as a book but lifted it out when he got an outraged missive from somebody mentioned in the book and consulted the index to read the offending item, most times agreeing with the person who expoded. Then he put the hefty volume away and was more than a little gratified when it began to fade with the reading public. Michael Moore was another source of pique. Bush wondered why former President Jimmy Carter would sit in the box with "that slimeball" filmmaker during the Democratic Convention. Then he forgot about it as new attacks rolled in.

This political season, the media were the ogres in his view, piling on, distorting his son's character and record. And sometimes he would write a letter in his mind to the offender ("You threw everything at him, but it did not work"), and then when he was about to sit down at his PC and fire it off, `a la Harry Truman, he thought better of it and swallowed the idea. Maybe that sort of thing will show up in any new memoirs he may write, but not now. Family first.

"The older Barbara and I get, the more we value our private time in Maine or Houston, and we love our little apartment at the [Bush] Library in College Station and being around the Texas A&M campus with the kids," he says. "I went up to Yale, and I was walking through the campus, and not once did anyone say, 'How are you?' or 'What can I do for you?' or 'Are you enjoying it?' They all looked the other way. Down at College Station they all say, 'Howdy.' I love going there." Even while racing across the country to help raise funds for George W., the father kept his BlackBerry handy and touched hundreds of bases.

The 41st President once summed up the core of his equilibrium, which he pretty well maintained in his 40 years of public service, in the following way: "You, old fella, are the luckiest man in the entire world. You have a great wife, five wonderful children and 14 grandkids, all of whom give you happiness. You also have two nice houses, many caring friends, a wonderful small staff, and you have Sadie, a fine old dog. You have a lot of fishing rods and a boat. What more would a guy ask?"

Now that a second term for his son was granted as well, the White House will remain the center of the Bush family culture. But the elder Bushes will go on with their lives, which extend far beyond the White House. Son Jeb, Governor of Florida, is at an unprecedented 70% approval ("Gives one of the best stump speeches I've ever heard," says his father), although there is doubt whether he wants to move up after this term. Daughter Doro Koch is studying at the Virginia Theological Seminary, searching for a deeper understanding of the Christian faith. George P., once judged by PEOPLE magazine to be one of the sexiest bachelors in America, is married and a Dallas lawyer, wooed already by Texas pols to get into public service. Notes the grandfather: "His grandmother has told all the grandchildren that they've got to make a living before they start running for office." o