NEWSWEEK: Do you give Governor Bush advice?
BUSH: No, just there as a dad, really. If he asks for some advice, I would certainly offer it up. But I’m disinclined (and so is Barbara, in spite of her joking about it) to call up and make suggestions. He knows the number, and he knows I’m with him.
What is the best piece of political advice Senator [Prescott] Bush [the president’s father] ever gave you?
He never did. Ever. Of any kind whatsoever. That is kind of the model [for] the way Bushes go about this. I can’t think of one political thing my dad ever advised me on. As a matter of fact, as we got older, he wasn’t in the advice-giving business. He figured he taught us by example early on in our lives, honor and the value kind of things.
The governor will have to endure endless comparisons to you.
Well, yeah, most of them unfavorable: “Your father screwed this up; now what are you going to do about it?” But I told [George and Jeb, the governor of Florida] a long time ago, don’t worry about that… We’re a close family and nothing is going to divide us.
Governor Bush has written a letter saying he would oppose and veto any tax increase…
That’s a good one for me to stay out of. And I will. And on many other issues, too. Nobody wanted to lower taxes more than I did, but that’s not the way it worked. We made one compromise, and it cost me a lot. But George has done a great job on cutting taxes, and I think he is determined to continue that approach.
What’s the most surprising thing that we don’t yet know about the governor?
I don’t think there are any huge surprises out there, particularly on the personal life. There are people just groping and digging and garbage canning and going to whatever ends, knocking on doors of neighbors. But there aren’t any surprises.
What would you say to people who want to know what’s in the water up at Walker’s Point [the Bush family home in Maine]?
What’s in the water at Walker’s Point is a sense of values. And if that helps people aspire to higher office or be good points of light or be good citizens, hey, so be it. If family ties are enhanced by going there and getting a sense of what had gone before and enjoying life and being around your cousins, brothers, sisters, that’s good. That strengthens you for what lies ahead. George will come there and he’ll have a lot of memories of where his brother did this or his sister did that, or where his grandmother did such-and-such. And all around there will be some darned good values for him, but nobody’s going to be saying, “Now wait a minute, on the amendment to S bill, Senate resolution 344, I hope you’ll do this, son.” He’ll figure it out.
You were tested by war and by the death of your young daughter. Do you feel the governor has been tested? Is he ready to be a candidate for president?
I know he is. He has been tested by running against Ann Richards [for governor in 1994]. She’s tough as a boot, and he’s been through a lot. Then he was by me [during Bush Sr.’s failed 1992 re-election campaign]. There are all kinds of different experiences. I don’t think you have to be shot down in the war.
For us, for Barbara and me, it’s just very simple. Be good parents and stay the hell out of their way. If they get hurt, lift them up… In terms of whether [George W.] will be tough enough or have fire in the belly or all the cliches that are rolled out every four years, he’s got it all, I think.
Will you campaign a lot?
No. I can help him raise money, but he doesn’t need me out there. Because again, there will be people who want to take some issue and try to find a nuance of difference [between us] or a major difference on another [issue]. I’ll do anything they ask me to do, of course, but I think people know I was president, and I think it’s better to help from time to time on a fund-raiser if he can’t be there. But I don’t picture myself going to Des Moines and [saying], “Now I’ll take these four farms and you take these three, George.” Because one, I’m a little old for that, and secondly, I think it’s better that anything that relates to the actual politics be done by him and Laura.
Are you surprised by his popularity?
I’ve never seen anything quite like this… But he knows–and I know–that I was 17 points behind Dukakis after the conventions in ‘88. He also knows that I was at 91 percent one day and ended up trying to keep my snorkel above 30. He remembers and he won’t get cocky or read too much into [the numbers].
