On the EDge: RIP George H.W. Bush

December 3, 2018 Utah Channel 3

OPINION — It was May 2, 1997, one of those crystal clear Southern Utah days.

The sky was a brilliant blue, the temperature was just right and Cedar City was abuzz as Southern Utah University prepared to celebrate its centennial.

As the bureau chief for The Spectrum, I had my reporters assigned to various events of the day.

My job?

To follow the many dignitaries SUU resident Gerry Sherratt had invited to participate in the gala.

Squinting into the sun, the outline of Jon Huntsman’s private plane began to grow on the horizon, landing, then taxiing up to a space already under the control of Secret Service agents dispatched from the Salt Lake City office.

As the dignitaries stepped off the plane, one was unmistakable, a tall splinter of a man with a receding hairline, a permanent grin etched onto his face and the sure hand of a first baseman extended to all with whom he came in contact.

George Herbert Walker Bush took long strides to the car waiting to whisk him to SUU and a small motorcade of Cedar City police cars led us through the heavy traffic.

The former president was seemingly in good spirits as he mixed with the other dignitaries as they did a parade lap around the campus before receiving honorary degrees from the university. One of the stops along the way was in the Whiting Room of the R. Haze Hunter Conference Center where there was a media meet and greet with the president during a break in the formalities.

We were told not to ask questions as we moved through the line to shake hands with Bush, but there were a few who offered a mumbled greeting of “Hello, Mr. President.”

As I shook his hand I sort of broke the rule and asked, “Are you enjoying your visit to Cedar City?”

Bush’s trademark grin broadened and he slightly nodded his head in the affirmative.

The Secret Service agents who I had been attached to at the hip for most of the Bush visit, began to snarl, then realized it was a very benign question and smiled.

Hey, it was my job.

As I walked away I started chuckling to myself.

Instead of realizing I had just shaken hands with the most powerful man on Earth, all I could think of was the diminutive Dana Carvey doing his impersonation of the president on “Saturday Night Live.”

Carvey nailed the voice, the inflections, the exaggerated movements giving, perhaps, the most accurate presidential send-up in SNL history.

Bush proved to have a good sense of humor about it all, appropriating, at one point, Carvey’s line of “Wouldn’t be prudent at this juncture,” which the president used during several subsequent public appearances.

“Dana has given me a lot of laughs,” Bush said after Carvey did his impersonation at a White House gathering. “And, the fact that we can laugh at each other is a very fundamental thing.”

Bush later noted his approval in a diary entry.

“He (Carvey) told me ‘I’ve tried not to cross the line of fairness,’” Bush wrote. “I told him I didn’t think he had.”

The former president won’t be remembered as the best president this nation has produced, nor will he be celebrated as the most cerebral or charismatic.

Still, George Herbert Walker Bush, who we lost Friday, is a memorable character in United States history who will be remembered as a beacon of decency in the midnight blackness of politics.

Oh, don’t get me wrong. Bush was a shrewd politician, a tireless political campaigner, a tough opponent.

But, his legacy will be forever gilded by his gentlemanly demeanor.

He easily handled Michael Dukakis, perhaps the worst candidate the Democrats ever ran, to become the 41st president and even though he faced off against a hapless oaf, he conducted his campaign honorably, insisting on a high degree of dignity and grace.

He campaigned long and hard when challenged by Bill Clinton. He lost the election, but never struck below the belt.

He held tightly to traditional Republican principles, even when it became unfashionable.

“I’m a conservative, but I’m not a nut about it,” he said during the heat of the 1988 presidential campaign.

And, he also warmed himself to those from both parties with his Thousand Points of Light program, a noble effort to broaden volunteerism in American communities. The Points of Light organization today boasts 250 affiliates in 22 countries and has partnered with thousands of nonprofit organizations and companies.

Because of his demeanor, it would be easy to pigeonhole him in that Everyman niche because of his plain-spoken informality and his humility – “What’s wrong with being a boring guy?” he once asked.

But, he came from money and made his own fortune in the oil business long before entering politics.

He was a genuine war hero, at the time the youngest aviator in the U.S. Navy. He enrolled in an accelerated program that allowed him to complete his Yale education in 2 1/2 years instead of four.

He was also a family guy, remaining married to the inimitable and indomitable Barbara for 73 years, and standing resolutely in support of his children.

I feel lucky that I did get to meet the man and shake his hand. He’s the kind of guy, as I often say about the people I hold in respect, I would have over for Sunday dinner or invite to watch a ballgame, and, of course, to pick his brain about politics. I mean, even though we had vastly different political viewpoints, I held him in highest regard.

By comparison, his administration was one of the cleanest, scandal-free of White House tenures.

I figure that by today’s standards, he would have little chance of winning his party’s nomination. Things have simply changed too much and, besides, nice guys finish last.

But we really could use a few nice guys right now to prove that decency can prevail.

No bad days!

Ed Kociela is an opinion columnist for St. George News. The opinions stated in this article are his own and may not be representative of St. George News.

Email: edkociela.mx@gmail.com

Twitter: @STGnews, @EdKociela