RESTORING THE FAMILY’S NAME
Like father, like son.
George W.: I, George Walker Bush, do solemnly swear...
George Bush: ...that I will faithfully execute...
George W.: ...the office of President...
George Bush: ... of the United States.
George W. Bush grew up in a family with a strong sense that it was one of the American’s political clans connected to power. The Bush's had a tradition of going into politics but making their money first. George W. was to develop an intense loyalty to his father, a man who had gone south to make his fortune out of oil.
Bill Minutaglio (Bush Biographer): I believe he grew up with an enormous set of expectations on him that he was the prince, the 1)heir in this dynasty to hisfather. I think in large measure, his 2)ascendancy to the Presidency is informed by his need, by his deep inner need to somehow or other meet those expectations in the family, maybe even 3)surpass his father in some way.
He followed his father's path. The same 4)elite colleges. At Yale, his father had been a legend in class, George W. would be remembered for his partying.
John Ellis (cousin): There were people who looked at George W. and said, you know, can he measure up to dad? And there were people I think who said that he wasn't measuring up. And I think that George probably heard some of those or George W. probably heard some of those words.
George W. Bush was spending too much time in the bars of this oil town drinking heavily, business was going badly. "I'm all name but no money," he complained at the time. In 1986, he and his wife, Laura, left Colorado Springs to celebrate his 40th birthday with their closest friends. It was to be a weekend that would change his life. That night at the Broadmore Hotel, friends say George W. drank too much and woke with a pounding head. He 5)vowed never to drink again. He woke up the next day and said, "Hey, why am I doing this?" and he just stopped and that's it.
Joe O'Neill (friend): I was suspected that he had such love and affection for his dad that "hey, what happens if I did something to embarrass my father?"
John Ellis: I think it was 6)getting in the way of his life, it was getting in the way, I mean, of his work, of his marriage, of his relationship with people. And I think he felt, you know what, it's in the way and if it's in the way, it's out of the way.
Joe O'Neill: He saw a problem and just said that's it, and George is very disciplined that way.
At the moment of his father's greatest triumph - winning the White House and enjoying the trappings of power - George W. was just over 40 and effectively unemployed. He 7)agonized over his own future to the point to agreeing to have some research done by a White House aide on what had happened to the sons of previous presidents.
Journalist: What did you find?
Doug Wead (friend): Most depressing, high levels of suicide, higher than average levels of divorce, of alcoholism, of premature death which was coincidental. Seemed like these young people - men and women, children of Presidents - so 8)identified with their father, the Presidential figure, that their whole life was 9)wrapped up in him. And when George W. saw that, he kinda 10)groaned.
Then in 1992, his father was beaten by Bill Clinton. It hurt. It definitely hurt ‘cause he loved his father. It's hard to describe the respect he had for his father.
Journalist: But do you think that sense of loss that the family had lost out influenced his decision to go into the politics and become governor of Texas?
Doug Wead: Yes, yes, I think it really 11)propelled it.
His father's defeat left George W. tearful and disgusted with politics, but it proved a liberation for him and his brother.
Laura Bush (wife): For the first time, George and his brother, Jeb, were freed to run. It was the first time they had the opportunity in their whole lives to not have to think about how everything they said or any political position they took would affect their father.
Doug Wead: Once his dad had been defeated it, it sort of freed him up to take advantage of the whole network, the whole Bush network - it could now give money to him. It didn't have to give all the money to President Bush, what former President Bush and so on and so forth. He’d enable all of this incredible 12)apparatus was now available to him.
George W.: Let's make it official, I'm a 13)candidate for Governor of Texas!
Within weeks of his father's defeat, George W. had taken steps to run for Governor. Few had expected him to win against the incumbent, a popular woman and a Democrat. Those who had come to know him while he was at the Texas Rangers were puzzled by this sudden move into politics.
Randy Galloway (friend): I said, George, you can't beat her! What are you doing this? And his answer was, I'm running against the other guy, meaning Bill Clinton.
Journalist: Could you also get the sense that this was getting back at the man who after all had beaten his father?
Randy Galloway: No doubt about it. I mean, George W. is a guy that he did not forget what happened to Big George, and he never forgot that.
Randy Galloway said it was like hearing a blato such as was George W. Bush's determination to restore the family name. It was the former baseball owner who ended up in the Governors mansion and begun running Texas, the second largest state in America.
In 1998, he was easily re-elected. The Republican Party began to eye him as a winner, and he also had going for him the Bush name. John Ellis: What it gives George an enormous advantage going in? It gives him a 100% name recognition. It gives him a huge network of financial supporters. It gives him a huge network of a political supporters. It gives him a huge reservoir of good will from people who don't even know him, because they assume that because his father's a good guy, he's a good guy.
David Gergen: If he were not a Bush, he would not be President today. So it, you know, if his name had been Smith, he'd have been Governor of Texas, he'd have been a nice candidate for Vice President, but I don't think he would be President.
The Bush guide as how George W. Bush will act under pressure came during the five weeks when the election was disputed. He decided not to remain here in the official residence 14)overseeing the crisis. Instead he appointed people to fight for his corner while he took off to his 15)ranch, a place that didn't even have TV. To some, at this most critical moment in his life, he seemed almost disengaged.
Most of the time was spent clearing brush, it's how he likes to work - 16)delegate and then 17)pull back. Those who visited him found a man supremely relaxed about his own future, whatever the outcome.
John Dickerson (TIME Magazine): When I arrived, you would of thought it was any other weekend. That the Presidency didn't 18)hang in the balance, that he hadn't been waiting out 3 weeks of court challenges and legal challenges and speculation and spin. You would of thought he had been on a month long vacation. It was only after about 2 hours that he said, you know, "I don't give a damn about the Supreme Court here." And then he paused and said, "well, of course I do, but here it all just melts away."
"President elect of the United States, the honorable George W. Bush!"
This is a dynasty in the making. Many of his father's friends have been brought into the White House, and each day George W. e-mails George senior. For all his confidence, there is an unfinished quality to the man, many regard as the accidental President.
重振家威
白宫的第二个布什
虎父无犬子。
小布什：我--乔治·沃尔克·布什--庄严宣誓……
老布什：我必会忠诚履行……
小布什：美利坚合众国总统……
老布什：……的职责。
乔治·W·布什生长在跟政治、权力结下不解之缘的美国大家族之一中。布什家族具有参政传统，但赚钱是首当其要的。小布什对父亲忠心耿耿，他的父亲早年在南部靠石油发家致富。
比尔·米奴塔利奥（布什家传记作者）：我相信他在成长过程中身上肩负着家人很高的期望：他是王子，是父亲的王朝继承人。我想，他登上总统宝座很大程度上是出于本身需要，是他内心深处希望达到家人的期望，甚至是超越他父亲的成就。
他踏上父亲走过的路。上同样的名校。在耶鲁，他父亲是班上的高材生，而小布什则以开晚会扬名。
约翰·埃利斯(表兄)：有些人看着小布什说道，唉，他能和他爸爸比吗？我想还有些人说他比不上。我估计乔治和小布什也许有所风闻。
小布什曾在这个石油城市的各酒吧间流连多时，饮酒无度，生意因此一落千丈。“我是有名无钱，”当时他这么抱怨道。1986年，他和妻子劳拉离开科罗拉多的斯普林斯，与好友一道庆祝他的40岁生日。那个周末改变了他的一生。据朋友说，小布什那晚在布罗德莫酒店喝了许多酒，醒来的时候头痛欲裂。他发誓再不饮酒。第二天清醒之后他说：“嗨，我怎么会成了这样？”然后他就这样戒了酒。
乔·奥尼尔(朋友)：我猜想他是因为太爱父亲了，心想“啊，万一我做错了什么事让父亲为难怎么办？”
约翰·埃利斯：我看酗酒妨碍了他的生活，我的意思是说妨碍了他的工作、婚姻和人际关系。而且他觉得说，你瞧，障碍出现了，如果被妨碍了，就得要清除障碍。
乔·奥尼尔：他看到问题就决意戒除陋习，乔治在这方面很自律。
正当他的父亲取得最大胜利--入主白宫，权力达至巅峰时，小布什刚满四十岁，没有工作。他对自己的前途倍感忧虑，同意让一名白宫人员对历任总统子女的发展做一番调查研究。
记者：你发现了什么？
道·伟德(朋友)：结果很令人沮丧：自杀率高, 离婚率、酗酒率较平均数高，巧的是英年早逝率也高。这些年轻人，这些总统的子女们似乎深受其总统父亲的形像影响，一生都活在父亲的阴影之下。当小布什看到这个结果，他不禁抱怨起来。
然后他的父亲在1992年被比尔·克林顿击败。他很伤心。他自然很是伤心，因为他爱他的父亲。他对父亲的尊敬之情难以言传。
记者：但你是否认为，正是因为家族被挫败的失落感使他受到影响，他才决意从政并角逐得克萨斯州的州长？
道·伟德：是的，是的，我认为那的确起到了驱策的作用。
父亲的挫败让小布什伤心流泪，厌恶政治。然而对于他和弟弟来说，那却成了一个解放。
劳拉·布什（妻子）：乔治和他的弟弟杰布第一次可以无拘无束地奔跑，他们有生以来第一次用不着顾虑他们所说的话或他们的政治立场将会对父亲有何影响。
道·伟德：他爸爸被挫败后，他却得以好好利用起整个网络来--整个布什家的网络，这网络现在能给他带来钱。比如说钱不用再全数交给布什总统、前总统了。他得到的机会增加了不少。
小布什：现在正式宣布，我角逐得克萨斯州州长一职！
他父亲被击败后数周，小布什开始角逐州长。众人预测他敌不过当时在职的一位广受欢迎的女士和一个民主党人。他在得州棒球队结识的朋友们对他突然从政感到迷惑不解。
兰迪·加洛伟(朋友)：我对他说：乔治，你赢不了她的！为什么要这么做呢？他回答说：我的目标对手是他，“他”说的是克林顿。
记者：你是否觉得他是想打败使他父亲落选的人？
兰迪·加洛伟：这是毫无疑问的。小布什从没有忘记过老布什落选的事情，他从来没忘记过。
兰迪·加洛伟说犹如听到血誓，小布什决意要重振家族名声。这位前任棒球队班主最终住进了州长府，管辖美国第二大州∶得克萨斯。
1998年，小布什再次轻易当选。共和党开始视他为福将，而布什这姓氏也令他无往而不利。
约翰·埃利斯：这姓氏给乔治带来了什么样的大好处呢？它令别人对他投下百分之百的信心，给他带来源源不断的财政支持，为他在政界中取得广泛的支持，它令那些不认识他的人也对他心存好感，因为他们想既然父亲是好人，儿子也会是好人。
大卫·戈更：如果他不姓布什，他今天不会当上总统。所以啊，如果他姓史密斯，他或许能当上州长，或许也是理想的副总统人选，但我想他就当不成总统了。
从选举进行得纷纷扰扰的五星期中，我们可以看到小布什应付压力的风格。他决定不留在办公室里处理危急情况，而是委派他人替他争取，自己则去农庄避静，那里连电视也没有。在人生的关键一刻他转身走开，于是有些人认为他不够投入。
许多时候，他只是捡捡树枝，这就是他的工作作风;委派出适当人选后便退居幕后。前往探访他的人发现，无论未来的结果如何，他都能甘之如饴。
约翰·迪克森(《时代》杂志)：我去到后，只觉得那是个普通周末。总统并没有坐立不安，那三周他并非只是徒然地等待法院判决，没有参与法律争论，也没有运筹帷幄。你会认为他是在放一个月的长假。大概过了两个钟头他才说：“最高法院怎么判我才不在乎。”后来他顿了顿，又说：“当然我是在乎的，不过在这里就没那么紧张了。”
“美国新任总统--尊敬的乔治·W·布什！”
一个政治王朝渐具雏形。父亲的许多朋友被召进白宫做事，而且每天小布什都给老布什发电子邮件。尽管众人认为他只是“侥幸当上”总统，而他父亲却深信，儿子并非一无是处。
1)heir n. 继承人
2) ascendancy n. 优势，支配地位
3) surpass v. 超过
4) elite n. 精锐，精华
5) vow v. 发誓
6) get in one's way 在面前
7) agonize v. 使痛苦，折磨
8) identify v. 把……和……看成一样
9) wrap up in sth. 包，卷
10) groaned a. 呻吟的注释：
11) propel v. 推动，推进
12) apparatus n. 仪器，设备 13) candidate
14) oversee v. 检查，视察
15) ranch n. 大农场
16) delegate v. 委派代表
17) pull back 撤退，退却 候选人
18) hang in the balance （结果等）尚难确定