An Extraordinary Time for Our Nation

I have been a Republican my whole life, supportive of the idea that a smaller government, strong national defense and low taxes were the fundamental ways to keep America strong.  I worked in the Bush 41 White House; I worked as an aide on to the Chairman of the Bush campaign in 1992 and have consistently voted and supported Republican candidates.  Until this year.  I was moved and inspired by the President-Elect because I saw that the U.S. Government was essentially, profoundly failing to meet its obligation to its people.  We were in two wars draining our treasury; foundering on National Security issues; living in cities where bridges collapse and kill our citizens; where millions cannot get or afford decent health care.  In the richest city in the richest country in the world, New York City, I see homeless, downtrodden, hopeless people. I see educated, affluent people who cannot find a job and can no longer afford their prescription medicine.   I see crumbling streets and filth and people who are hungry.  I saw a city devastated by a collosal storm in the south while the federal government looked the other way and failed its people. The economy is in crisis, there is a loss of American prestige around the world, people wonder whether our best days are in the past.  This is a horrid time, but it presents a profoundly promising opportunity to get it right, to reset, to regroup and reemerge stronger, smarter and to lead the world by the power of our example.

A Red, White and Blue White House Christmas

Executive Office of the President, Washington

In 1990, I worked in this building, the Old Executive Office Building, now known as the Eisenhower Executive Office Building and originally the State War and Navy Building. It is the Executive Office of the President. Everything about it is massive, impressive. I remember the way the halls smelled, like fresh flowers and power. The black and white marble tiled floors and oak paneling. The massive oak doors and enormous windows. The Office of Communications, home of the Office of Presidential Speechwriting, was on the first floor, just around the corner from the entrance on Pennsylvania Avenue. I think it was Room 120. The carpet of the main office was blue and the telephone was a remnant of the Eisenhower administration. (The Clintons took them out and installed new, hi-tech phones.) When the phones rang, they went "ding-ding", like a doorbell - quiet and smooth like everything within the black wrought iron gates that surround the White House Complex. The trees were perfect. The lawn was perfect, mowed at night with silent mowers so as not to disturb the First Family and the White House Staff. The basement level had a Secret Service gift shop, where you could buy USSS baseball caps and patches. When a staff member departed, we held a party in the Indian Treaty Room, with glasses imprinted with the presidential seal and chilled beer in White House Mess trunks filled with ice. I liked to attend the departures and arrivals of the President on Marine One, on the South Lawn, especially at night when few if any spectators were there. It was -- magical.

The Presidential Speech that Never Was

Photo Credit: George Bush Presidential Library

This is the text of remarks written for President George H.W. Bush, to be delivered on November 3, 1992 at the Westin Galleria, in Houston, Texas. But it was a victory speech, a speech that was never to be delivered and has not, to my knowledge, ever been published. In honor of Election Night 2006, here it is:

PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ELECTION NIGHT
NOVEMBER 3, 1992
WESTIN GALLERIA
HOUSTON, TEXAS

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Move over, Harry Truman.

Just a few moments ago, I received a call from Governor Clinton. He said that the people had made their decision, and he offered his cooperation as we move forward together.

Let me congratulate Governor Clinton and Senator Gore. They waged a skilled and hard fought campaign. They presented their case well and with conviction.

To Ross Perot, let me express my appreciation and respect. He energized millions of Americans and brought freshness and frankness to our democratic process.

And to you, my friends and supporters, to the American people, to the thousands of volunteers who stood in the rain and worked in the phone banks and put up the signs -- who kept the faith -- let me say thank you.

Tonight, the people have spoken.

Many doubted this victory. Many said that it couldn't be done. But you did it.

Our triumph is the triumph of an idea -- the idea that the power of America rests with its people.

The depth of that power knows no limits; its strength is irresistible; its potential knows no bounds.

Our triumph is another page in freedom's remarkable story. It is an acknowledgment -- a verification -- that America's strength and America's hope lies not in its government in Washington, but in all the places we visited -- in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, and Vineland, New Jersey, and Akron, Ohio, and Riverside, California. We have always known that the greatest strength of any nation is its people -- and nowhere more so than here, the home of the most resourceful, energetic, kind and generous people in the history of the Earth.

I have many people to thank tonight. To our great Vice President, Dan Quayle -- who performed so brilliantly and so valiantly in this campaign -- to Marilyn and your family -- you have earned the respect of a nation.

To our campaign organization, led by Bob Teeter, to Jim Baker and all those who worked so hard to make this night possible, you have my gratitude.

To the people of Texas, who gave me my start, you have shown again that no hearts are bigger than those of Texans.

To the millions of Americans who honored me with your vote: I will do my best to earn the trust you have bestowed upon me. To those who supported others, I will work to earn yours -- and I will work to bring us together as Americans.

Elections are a choice -- a choice of ideas, a choice of directions. But there is one direction on which all Americans agree -- and that is forward. From tonight, we move forward.

Our mission remains to build a better America. I mean to fulfill that mission: with better schools for our children, with health care that is affordable and accessible to all, with a cleaner environment and a safer world, and with a growing economy that provides opportunity to all.

All societies have their rituals, and democracy's is the most majestic of all. It is the process of renewal -- the strengthening of a Nation made new again every four years by the voice of its own people.

From tonight we move forward. Our agenda is nothing less than American renewal. For the small businessman and the shop owner, we will offer the tools to help our country grow and create jobs. For those without hope in our inner cities, we will offer the opportunity that springs from empowerment, from having a greater stake in your own lives. For those without jobs, we will create them by developing new markets and new technologies and new ideas and new skills. And for the young people of America -- the young people -- remember this. No challenge has ever been too great for any generation of Americans. And none is too great for yours.

Yours is the first generation in a long while to look out at a world at peace -- unhindered by major conflict -- blessed by freedom in more places for more people than at any time in human history.

My responsibility is to help you take advantage of that unprecedented opportunity. Yours is to do so.

God has blessed this great land and each of us with unlimited potential. And now we go forward, knowing that America is another name for opportunity. Knowing that America's best days are yet to come.

With a full heart, I ask for God's blessing and your help. Together, we can renew America.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.

Like the Adirondacks, a Little

Photo Credit: George Bush Presidential Library

Photo Credit: Mark Burstein

We visited Kennebunkport, Maine this summer. It was, like the Adirondack Park, a stunning place to have a home by the water. Of course, there it was the ocean rather than a lake. There it was - Maine. Different, but similar. There is the same calming influence of the water and the boats, only the boats are bigger, like former President Bush's boat, Fidelity. Walker's Point is there, summer home to the Bush family - 12 acres of Maine land jutting out into the ocean, perched upon a rock. It is, like the Adirondacks, very rustic - ocean waves, rocky shores, fresh air, casual and small-town. If you like the Adirondacks, there is a lot about Maine that you will appreciate. Here, some boats are anchored in the bay near the town of Kennebunkport. It's a gorgeous place to visit.