Goodbye Gipper, Hello Horseshoes

Sydney Morning Herald

Saturday January 21, 1989

DEBORAH CAMERON

RONALD Reagan is sitting beside George Bush in a stretch limousine. They are on their way to the White House for the inauguration.

"Listen, could you do me a favour?" Ron asks George. "Feed the squirrels. The nuts are in the top left-hand drawer. First thing in the morning. I've got'em trained."

It was a conversation thought up by a reporter who had covered, perhaps too closely, the Reagan years. The trouble is it may be true.

Ronald Reagan always gave the impression he worried about the squirrels. It is quite possible that in the frosty morning, he might have put on his slippers and pad out in his pyjamas and dressing gown with a bag of nuts.

It is hard to imagine George Bush doing the same thing. It's not that he has anything against squirrels - in fact, he's in favour of furry animals and says that he only shoots quail in season. He couldn't imagine, for example, killing a deer.

But the evidence is everywhere. The chicken-soup era of American politics ends with Ronald Reagan. Not only is George Bush a reluctant teller of cosy old stories, but he doesn't tell them very well. He gets tongue-tied.

Ronald Reagan could take a national catastrophe like the exploding space shuttle and say the astronauts had "slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God" with tears in his eyes. He could stand in front of a camera and look as though he was eye-balling Colonel Gadaffi and say "go ahead make my day", or he could confront voters and ask them to "win one more for the Gipper".

Bush has less luck with the language. Once, when he was trying to say something else, he said he "had some sex" with President Reagan. During the last election campaign, he wandered from his prepared text into the minefield of ad lib. Suddenly he had declared that it was the anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbour. He was several months early.

But Americans, like Australians, enjoy colloquialisms, and George Bush, a Texan, has a few of them. His election catch-cry, "Read my lips", which preceeded every repeated promise that there would be no new taxes under his Administration, has gathered new prominence because of the Presidential imprimatur. His plea that America should be a "kindler, gentler" nation has been followed up by people calling for "kindler, gentler" playgrounds, legislation and traffic manners. On the tennis court, Bush has a secret code with his partner but the key phrase is "unleash Chiang", a bizarre reference to a time when there was vocal support for an invasion of mainland China from Thailand by Chiang Kai-shek. "Unleash Chiang" means it's time to do something powerful, like serve an ace. Bush's confession that he "goes ballistic" when he hears something he doesn't like will undoubtedly be the next thing to catch on.

There are other things about George Bush that make him different from the President. First, he likes his children - all of them - unlike Ronald and Nancy who only ever invited one of their four children to a White House function. The Bush family, by contrast, is large and very close. George and Barbara Bush, who have been married for 44 years, had seven children, one of whom died in infancy. It has been predicted the Bush White House will be more like the Kennedy White House.

The Presidential wives share no similarities. Nancy Reagan has epitomised the "can't be too rich or too thin" ethic and Barbara Bush has proudly noted that she has had a lot of fan mail from women who have white hair, wrinkles and a few extra pounds.

The leisurely pace of life that President Reagan set in Washington is expected to be an early casualty in the Bush era. More than one senior journalist have resigned because they don't think they will be able to handle the pace of George Bush after the leisurely 10-to-5 Reagan era.

Even the White House grounds will not be the same. George Bush is already planning to build a pit for tossing horseshoes, a peculiarly American sport that involves competitors pitching a horseshoe at a peg. The clang of the horseshoes will be the first the squirrels know of a new tenant in the house.

"Nancy," Ron might say as they drive out the big gates, "I wonder if they make ear-plugs for squirrels?"