Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: 'Unpleasant year' is over Date: Wed, 4 Nov 92 16:16:30 EST Message-ID: \SE A;ELECTIONS '92;BUSH'S DAY \HD 'Unpleasant year' is over \SH Rejected by voters, Bush finds relief \BY Frank J. Murray \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES \DT HOUSTON HOUSTON - George Bush is not always a really good loser, but he's no dope either. He's going fishing and hunting, and he wants to know why his vaunted upset comeback never came back. "Go back home and figure it out," he said yesterday after being ousted as guardian of the Reagan Revolution by Governor Taxes and the Ozone Man, as he called the Democratic ticket Sunday. "As for me, I'm going to try and find a way to serve and help people. And I plan to get very active in the grandchild business," Mr. Bush said after telephoning congratulations to President-elect Bill Clinton and promising cooperation in the transition. While the crowd before him shouted "Press go home!" and booed reporters, Mr. Bush spoke with grace and told his heartbroken supporters, "I ask you to stand behind our new president." "Thank you, George. Thank you, George," they chanted. As the room began emptying, Mr. Bush and his wife, Barbara, accompanied by "Deep in the Heart of Texas," walked hand in hand from a stage packed with dry-eyed relatives. The president was a casualty of the post-Cold War peace, rejected by a nation that believes the world is safe enough to let his kind go. The president was a man preparing to relax if not retire, a sitting president who had poked fun at himself by saying "read my hips" at the height of unrivaled popularity but was voted out by people who didn't buy his argument that they should value a president's character more than their wallets. Mr. Bush survived Japanese bullets in World War II only to run aground on the rocks of an economic disaster some linked to his inability to win the trade war with Japan. His attention turned yesterday to Oshman's sporting goods store, where he bought a fishing reel for bass and paid $6 to renew his hunting license. He then went to Sound Warehouse for seven country music tapes. Was the politician who shed tears aboard Air Force One on the flight into Houston relieved at the election's end? "Very, very pleased," Mr. Bush told reporters before the polls closed to end what he called "the most unpleasant year of my life." But yesterday he was Mr. Bright Eyes again for a while. "Great day. . . . Looking good," Mr. Bush said when everybody around him predicted victory despite the handwriting on the exit polls. By last night, when family and old friends gathered for a private wake at his Houstonian Hotel home, the guest of honor had turned somber. "It doesn't look too good. I've been happier," he said at the hotel where he rents a room for his legal voting address. As of Jan. 20, unless he buys something, he'll join the ranks of the homeless because his $3 million oceanfront home in Maine is virtually uninhabitable in winter. The president began Election Day with an early-morning jog in the park with daughter Doro, a herd of 70 fitness addicts and a golden retriever. He spent 90 seconds voting in the gym of St. Mary's Seminary and vanished like a turtle hiding in his shell. Mr. Bush, whose least favorite activity is waiting, even for a few seconds, passed his day with small groups, pitching horseshoes with his sons and daughter, watching them hit tennis balls, breakfasting with family and a few campaign aides, and lunching with Barbara, who started out not wanting him to run but worked harder than anybody for a victory. Mr. Bush was through with the caustic press, at least for a while. There were no fetching pictures of the Bush family watching returns on television and no interviews. The president wanted four more years to finish the job but instead has 78 days before he's evicted from the White House. Thousands of others must leave with him: appointed political loyalists thrown out of work or thwarted in careers tied to his political star, which flamed out after 30 years, including last year, when he briefly achieved the highest popularity ratings of any president. This afternoon, some of those loyalists in Washington will throw a hero's welcome when Mr. Bush returns to the White House. Tomorrow he'll go to Camp David for a long weekend at his most private hideaway. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM